






\.- 











^\ 



,0o 






V, 



^.^ v-^^ 









^^,^^^ 

^■^ ^ 

a^^ ^ 









•^.., 



"O 



:5 -c 



^cf- 






.-^^ 









.(^^ c ^ '•■ 












^^ * •. M o ^ \^^ ^ 



«*-, 



.w^ .^^- 



* , 'o. 



,.^- 


















^^ 



"oqN 













<<-<i 
.^^' ^i 










A^^ 



^V '^,. 






C> 






K^^ ■'^> 









,-0' 



c> 






> c 









':\. 



A 



%■ ,<^''' 



'^^ 






%< 
.<^- 






\^ 



.>-^/>. 



c^_ 





















v^^^" 



x^ -^ 






<?. 



' -^^ 



''^y- v-^' 



\'^ ^ 



















•?=> 

\ > 



%<- 



■ . J V. 






,0-' 









THE 



RICHMOND EXAMINEE 

DURING TFIE WAR; 



OR, 



THE WRITmGS OF JOHN M. DANIEL. 



WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE, 



BY HIS BROTHEE, 



FREDERICK S. DANIEL 



9f-,,. ' 



y (fwy(A^ ^vuL^-^i^ ' 



c/ 



NEW YORK: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 

1868. 



^ 



\9 



\9 

"0 



(ft 



'W 



PREFACE 



The following Writings of the late John M. Daniel, Editor 
and Proprietor of the Daily Ric-hnond Examiner^ were pub- 
lislied in that paper during the war. Preserved in the original 
text, they are republished at this day because of the intrinsic 
and durable value they possess, as expressed in the sanction 
with which they have already been stamped by the public — by 
the genuine public who are not only willing but desirous to hear 
the truth in regard to public men and events, whether of the 
past or of the present. By a critical analysis of the men and 
events of that memorable epoch, 1861-65 — which in itself 
resumes American history, and which will not soon be surpassed 
in importance, on this continent at least — these bantings present 
a true reflex of the spirit in which the conflict was waged. 

F. S. D. 
Richmond, Va., May. 1868. 



DAILY RICHMOND EXAMINER. 



MARCH A, 1861. 

This Fourth of March, the memorable day of a memorable year, 
will not attain a less celebrity in future history than the Roman 
Ides of the same month. AVe stand to-day between two worlds. 
Here a past ends, here a future begins. The Republic of the United 
States on this day bids farewell to the style, the policy, the principles 
that have borne it in the lifetime of a man from insignificance to 
grandeur, from the poverty of Sparta to the wealth of Ormus or of 
Ind, from the footing of San Marino to equality witli the British 
Empire. To-day we take leave of our policy and our practice, of the 
manners and of the men who have marked and guided the career 
that is ended. The line of those high personages, who will hereafter 
be known in history, only, as the Presidents, ends to-day ; and that 
generation who shall learn their lives and their character from the 
pages of the future Gibbon who will narrate the decline and fall of 
the United States will compare them with the despicable tyrants 
whose dismal roll commences on the peristyle of the Capitol under 
the light of the sun noAV shining, as the youth of our day contrast 
the grand succession of Roman Consuls witii the Divine Tiberius, 
with the Neros, with the Claudes, the Caligulas who defiled their seats 
and prostituted their titles, when another such day of March had 
separated another constitutional republic from another disguised des- 
potism. 

President Buchanan is the last of the family of Presidents. He 
was learned in their school, looked and spoke, and endeavored to act 
and think as they did. The historical character which he desired 
to leave was one like theirs, and, whatever the failure in essentials, the 
style and outward mould was that of the Madisons, the Monroes, 
the Van Bui'ens, Tylers, Polks. We would be uncandid to say that 
he has filled their measure ; for thougli the retiiing President is one 
of the most distinguished figures of our day ; has passed a long life 
in the most splendid employment ; and tliough he must always be 
reckoned as one of the most eminent and celebrated statesmen of 
this country, it is impossible to deny that his administration has 
been unequal to his fame ; that he has left chaos where he found order, 
i-uin where he found prosperity ; or that much of this disaster may 
be fau'ly charged to his faults of character and ])olicy. 

It is difficult to say which was the most unfortunate, his foreign 



6 

or his domestic system. It is certain that the former was the least 
American ever followed by a Democratic President. Even Mr. Bu 
chanan himself would probably admit that his domestic policy has 
not been successful. Yet few who have either spirit, intelligence, or 
national pride, can fail to regret the retiring President while gaz- 
ing on his successor. Whatever his particular faults, in person he 
well represented the decency, the dignity, the decorum of the country. 

To replace him in the White House, Northern Federalism has sent 
a creature "vshora no one can hear with patience or look on with- 
out disgust. We have all heard of a King of Shreds and Patches ; 
but in the first of "Free Presidents" we have the delightful com- 
bination of a western county lawyer with a Yankee barkeeper. 
No American of any section has read the oratory with which he has 
strewn his devious road to Washington, condensed lamps of imbe- 
cility, buffoonery, and vulgar malignity, without a blush of shame. 
It is with a bitter pang that we remember that these samples of utter 
blackguardism have already gone to all the earth translated into all 
the languages that men speak, to justify the worst representations 
that our worst enemies have ever made of the national degradation to 
which tl^ey pretend republican government must ever lead. 

But all personal antipathies are lost in the deep sentiment of 
apprehension which must affect every thinking man when he I'e- 
members the terrible significance of this beastly figure. Whether 
we are to be governed by a gentleman or ruled by a baboon, would 
matter comparatively little were each the representative of consti- 
tutional government. But with Lincoln comes something worse than 
slang, rowdyism, brutality, and all moral filth ; something worse 
than all the tag and rag of Western grog-shops and Yankee facto- 
ries, headed by Bob, Prince of Rails, and that successor to Miss Lane, 
in diamond eardrops and with ivory fan to wave over the faces of the 
diplomatic corps in the East-room, while urging them " not to be too 
warm in the cause." With all that comes arbitrary power. With 
all those comes the daring and reckless leader of Abolitionists, who 
has long proclaimed and now is effecting his purpose of destroying 
every federative feature of the constitution, all the peculiar character- 
istics of the separate State systems, to consolidate them all by mere 
numerical force in one grand anti-slaveiy community. 

The new President has climbed to his place on the fragments of 
a shattered Confederacy, and the mere necessity of things will force 
him to deluge them in blood long before the Ides of another March 
has come again. A citizen of this State, returning to his country 
after an absence of years, and alighting at daybreak in the streets'of 
its Capital, heard the bugle's reveille, the roll of drums and the 
tramp of armed guards there till he fancied himself back in Venice, 
or arriving in Warsaw. The first of the Free Presidents gets to 
the seat of government in the disguise of a foreigner and by the 
nocturnal flight of a conscience-stricken murderer in purpose ; he is 
inaugurated to-day as John Brown was hung, under the mouth.-; of 
cannon leveled at the citizens whom he swears to protect ; and with 
the bayonets of mercenary battalions commanding every road to 



the fountain of mercy and justice, "What can come oi all this.btit 
civil war and public ruin ? 



MARCH 19, 1861. 
" Gli Animali Parlanti." 

[Being the Examinkr's Translation of Csstl.] 

Once upon a time, when it was the custom of the beasts and 
birds of the United States of North America to elect a king to 
reign over them, once in every four years, it so happened that an 
ugly and ferocious old Orang-Outang from the wilds of Illinois, who 
was known by the name of Old Abe, was chosen king. This 
election created a great disturbance and a revolution in the South- 
ern States, for the beasts in that part of the country had imported 
from Africa a large number of black monkeys and had made slaves 
of them ; and Old Abe had declared that this was an indignity 
oftered to his family, that monkey slavery was the sum of all vil- 
lainies, and that he would not allow it to be perpetrated on any ac- 
count, and that when he became king he intended to abolish monkey 
slavery throughout all his dominions. 

As soon, then, as it became known that Old Abe was elected 
king, the States lying on the Gulf of Mexico, where the beasts were 
very independent and ferocious, declared that no Orang-Outang 
should be king over them, and they, therefore, rebelled and seceded 
from the Union. When Old Abe heard that the Gulf States had 
revolted, and would not acknowledge him to be their king, he flour- 
ished his great war club over his head and swore by his whiskers 
that he would whip them back into the Union. He accordingly 
collected a great^farmy of bloodhounds, jackals, vultures, and run- 
away monkies, and placed them under the command of a notorious 
old Turkey Cock named Fuss and Feathers, and ordered him to 
march down upon the Southern States and subdue them and free all 
of their slaves. 

At this time the Boar of Rockbridge, (who was supposed to be 
a lineal descendant of David's Sow, and was notorious for the large 
amount of swill that he could consume,) was the Governor of the 
beasts of the Old Dominion. When he heard that Old Abe was 
raising an army to invade the Southern States, he issued a procla- 
mation calling together the most learned and wise of the beasts of 
the Old Dominion to sit in council and decide upon what was best 
to be done under the circumstances. 

The Council met on the 13th day of February in a large grove 
on the banks of James river. An ancient white Owl, from Loudon 
county, was called to preside over the meeting. Upon taking the 
stump, the President addressed the meeting in a few solemn and 
dirge-like notes. He said that he had bat little experience in leg- 
islation, but that he would try and do his best. He dwelt feelingly 



8 

upon the distracted state of the country, said that he could see in 
the dark further than most persons, but the gloom which now over- 
hung the country was to him impenetrable. He hoped, however, 
that wise and prudent counsels would prevail, and, above all, that 
they would not be precipitate. He would try his best to keep order, 
and hoped that the spectators on the outskirts of the grove, and par- 
ticularly the Turkey Buzzards, Shanghais, and young monkeys in the 
upper limbs of the trees, and the female magpies and chatterers, 
would keep silence, and not disturb the meeting by any demonstra- 
tions of applause, and that the Geese would not hiss. He then an- 
nounced that the first business in order would be the election of 
officers. 

A Raven was then elected secretary and two Magpies as re- 
porters. A JVEastiff and two Bull-Terriers were chosen as sergeant- 
at-arms and doorkeepers, a couple of Hawks appointed to keep 
order in the upper limbs of the trees, and three pretty little Poodles 
were selected as runners. 

The Stump then announced that the meeting was ready to pro- 
ceed to business. 

A committee was then appointed to draft resolutions expressive 
of the sense of the council. 

During the .absence of the Committee, all eyes being turned 
upon the Lion of Princess Anne, he sprung to his feet, shook his 
mane, and gave a roar that made the woods resound. He said that 
he was not for w^iiling for tliis old Ape to invade Virginia. He was 
in favor of marching at once to meet the foe in his own country ; 
that he had crushed one infamous beast by the name of Sam, who 
had ventured to invade Virginia, and that if he could get Old Abe 
by the throat he would serve him in the same way. If all would 
follow him, he would lead them on to victory or death. If tliey had 
elected him king, as he told them to do, all this trouble would have 
been avoided. For his part, he " would rather be a dog and bay 
the moon" than live a moment under the dominion of this Illinois Ape. 
^ - An old Spaniel from Rockbridge then rose, and said he 
hoped that the honorable beast who liad just taken his seat did not 
mean, in the latter part of his speech, to cast any reflection upon him 
or any of his family. He thought that the distinguished beast was 
rather too pugnacious. He could see no necessity for resistance. 
For his part, he was in favor of abject submission, A little correc- 
tion Avas a very wholesome thing. After kicks and cuifs always 
came favors, and he was willing to suffer the first in order that he 
might enjoy the last ; that one master was as good as another, so 
you were kept warm and well fed. He was opposed to staying out 
in the cold. The beasts of the South had acted like traitors and 
fools, and he did not want to keep company with them. As to this 
monkey question, he did not think that it otight to divide the coun- 
try. He had long been of the opinion that Virginia would be 
better off without monkeys than with them. 

When the Spaniel took his seat, it was observed that he had a 
collar on his neck with the name of Orang-Outang Avritten on it, 



9 

whereupon a great hue aud cry arose among tlie outsiders, and the 
Spaniel had to turn tail and run ; and it was supposed that lie went 
over to the enemy. 

In consequence of this disturbance in the meeting, the Owl 
ordered the Mastiff and the Bull-Terriers and the Hawks to do 
their duty and clenr the avenues and the upper limbs, which. was 
done, nnd the meeting was restored to order. 

The Red Fox, from Middlesex, s:ud that Old At;e might take 
his brush if he could ; he intended to die a-fighting, but did not 
like to go too far from his own hole, so he could not follow his war- 
like friend from Princess Anne ; he, for one, was sound on the goose. 

An old Horse, from Prince George, with shaggy mane and un- 
kempt tail, ver}' deaf, and sadly in want of oats, cut up some hiuh 
capers and curvettes to show his condition. He said that they had 
no right to resist; that Old Abe had been elected king by a majority 
of all the animals in the country, and that it was their duty to sub- 
mit ; that he understood Illinois corn was very good, and, for his 
part, he would not object to trying a busliel or so ; if he could only 
get into the public crib he would not care much who was king. 

The Dormouse, fiom Rockbridge, said that the shock of battle 
had come, and we must stand firm, and nil run together. He was 
in favor of " Virginia pawsing ;" time enough to squeak when you 
felt the paw of the cat upon your back ; when the worst came to 
the worst, he could run into his hole. 

The Jackal, from Harrison, spoke in high terms of the Orang- 
Outang. He said that a good many of his kith and kin were in the 
invading army, and that he was certain they meant no harm ; that 
whatever was done Avould be for the good of the Old Dominion. 
He was opposed to resistance, and agreed with the old Spaniel 
from Rockbridge, that submission was the best policy. 

The Terrapin, from Franklin, said that he was in favor of wait- 
ing for more reliable information. " Time enough to move when 
you feel the fire on your back," was an old fiimily adage, to which 
he v\-as proud to allude, and illustrated the principle upon which he 
intended to act. 

The Durham Bull, from Goochland, here raised a terrible dust, 
whisked his tail, and bellowed furiously. He was for going straight 
out of the Union ; the red flag of Abolition had been flirted in his 
face, and he was ready for figliting; Virginia was in a dilenuna that, 
like himself, had two horns, he was for taking the Southern horn, 
and that at once. 

The Opossum, from Fluvanna, said that he did not approve of 
the hot haste of his horned friend and neighbor from Goochland ; he 
was in favor of demanding our rights in the Union if we could, out 
of it if we 7nust. (Tremendous applause.) Wherever Virginia 
went he would go ; he would stick to the State of Flu' as long as 
there was a persimmon tree in it upon which lie could swing his 
tail. Having spoken, he curled up. 

A Jackass, from Petersburg, here interrupted the meeting with 
some facetious remarks, whicli caused considerable merriment, but 
2 



10 

little edification. lie said lie would be rw^'-frss-inated before he 
woidd secede. 

A well-fed Ox, from the pastures of Augusta, said that he saw no 
necessity for precipitate action. He was sure that the intentions of 
His Royal Highness, the Orang-Ontang, had been misinterpreted, 
that. he had been well assured that liis Highness meant peace, and 
not war; he had been in correspondence with those who enjoyed the 
unlimited confidence of the Royal Ape, and was hap|>y to have it in 
his power to calm the apprehensions of this assembly. He thought 
that the best thing for Virginia to do would be to gracefully submit 
to that which she could not peacefully avoid. If the issue of North 
or South were presented to him, he would have to give his preference 
to the North. He wished to go where he could get plenty of grass, 
and Northern hay Avas sweeter to his cud tiian Southern fodder. 

A dark, sleek, fat Pony, from Richmond, supposed to be much 
aftected with the Botts, here lifted up his voice and neighed submis- 
sion; one master would do as well for him as another; wh;it he 
went in for was good feeding, and he believed that he could get 
that from Old Abe as well as anyl)ody else; his position was a pe- 
culiar one, he was nearly squeezed to death by outside pressure, 
while within he w;'.s racked with the l>otts. He would resist 
coercion with all his might and niane, and to every proposition for 
secession he would give a most unqualitied neigh. 

The Bat, from Bedford, said he had been flying around, first on 
one side and then on the otlier, and did not know exactly which 
side to favor — he was not in favor of submission, but was opposed 
to resistance — didn't think there would be any war. He changed 
his position so often that nobody knew exactly where he was, and 
finally he fluttered out of sight. 

The Bear, from Wetzel, s:iid that it was his duty to inform the 
Council that the beasts in his section of the State were not sound on 
the monkey question — that there was one member on the ground 
who had been elected on an Orang-Outang platform. 

The Cat, from Wheeling, here jumped up with a tremendous 
squawl, and said that the Bear from W^etzel had trodden upon his 
tail. He would take this oi)portunity of putting his stamp of repro- 
bation and denial upon some censorious and slanderous reports that 
had been industriously circulated in regard to his haA'ing distributed 
Oiang-Outang pamphlets amongst the free monkeys of Virginia — 
nothing made him raise up his back and show his claws quicker 
than to have such aspersions cast upon his fealty to his native State. 
He believed that the safety, honor, and glory of the Old Dominion 
would be best preserved by submitting to the rule of King Are. 
If Virginia would meet the Orang-Ouiang with a becoming spirit 
of submission, he was certain that he Avould treat her with Clemency. 
He hoped he would be excused from making a long speech, as he 
was just from a bed of sickness, having had a fray with one of the 
whelps of the Lion of Princess Anne, from which he had not yet re 
recovered. lie was opposed to lighting — he had had enough 
of it. 



11 

The Tiger, from !^^ecklenl)ur<2;, here rose with a terrible roar, niul 
paid that lie put his paw upon such time-serving policy as hod been 
advocated by the submission beasts in this assembly. He was for 
war to the tooth, and from the tooth to the gum. The Avoods re- 
sounded wnth his eloquence, and for a moment all appeared to be 
for war, but, after a little, up rose 

The Rhinoceros, from Kanawha, who said that, on an occasion 
of so much importance, Virginia ought to act with calmness, cool- 
ness, an<l ilelibeiation. He was opposed to hasty legislation; that 
time was the great pacificator; he did not think that this monkey 
question was of sufficient importance to break up this glorious 
Union ; for his part, he thought Virginia would be better off without 
monkeys than with them ; that he " would wade through a Red sea 
of blood •' to abolish monkey slavery from the land, ere he would 
see this glorious Union destroyed ; that many sneers had been cast 
upon the West in connection with this monkey question ; he would 
let the beasts from the East know that none of their shafts had pene- 
trated his hide ; it was too thick for such paltry weapons. He went 
for the honor, glory, and dignity of his native State, and thought 
that those could be best i>reserved by the abolition of slavery and 
union with the North. 

An old Eagle, from Charles City, said that he had once been king 
himself, and if the Orang-Outang only knew as well as he did what 
were the cares of office, he would be glad to return to his native 
forests. He had lately flown over the enemy's camp, had done his 
best to avert the calamity of vrar, but it was of no avail, ihey would 
listen to no compromise. He hoped that Virginia M'ould not listen 
to the syren voice of the subn^iissionists — our only hope is stern re- 
sistance — he was old, but w^as ready to fight, and, if necessary, to 
lead the van. 

Here the Lion gave a playful growl, and said that that was his 
place. 

The Game Cock of Albemarle rose on the spur of the moment, 
flapped his wings, and made a most eh)quent and stirring speech. 
With bis clarion voice he urged determined resistance. His motto 
was, " never say die." 

The Leopard of Prince Edward also made a powerfuL appeal 
for resistance. He playfully remarked that it had been said he 
would not change his spots, but that was a mistake ; if he did not 
like one spot he could go to another, and rather than submit to Old Abe 
he v.'ould go further South to a more congenial clime, and he urged 
his fellow-beasts, particularly those of the feUne race (except the 
Cat, who, he said, was a treacherous beast), to go with him. 

Tiie Hyena, from Monongalia, said that he thought it a hard case 
that the beasts of the West should be taxed to protect the monkey 
property of the East, which w^as the cause of all the trouble. He 
thought that the best way to put a stop to this contemplated rebel- 
lion in Virginia was to make the nioidcey-holders pay all the expenses 
of the war; and he, therefore, introduced a resolution for an amend- 
ment to the Constitution, by which a heavy tax should be laid upor^. 



12 

monkeys, particularly young monkeys, who were now exempt from 
taxation. 

A curly-headed Poodle from Richmond, nearly overcome with 
disunity and fat, said that he had prejDared a speech for the occasion, 
but, as the weather was getting warm, he did not feel like exerting 
himself; and, therefore, begged to be excused. 

All this time, while the debate was going on, there Avas a Serpent, 
who was the chief counsellor of Old Abe, who had sneakingly in- 
sinuated himself into the midst of the council, and was gliding silent- 
ly along from member to member, and whispering in the ear of each 
of the Submissionists, and promising them great things if they would 
only go for Old Abe. To the Pony he promised that he would cure him 
of the Botts, and give him plenty of oats and nothing to do. 

To the old Horse from Prince George he promised a crib full of 
corn and a currycomb. 

To the fat Ox fiom Augusta he promised that he should be trans- 
lated to " green fields and pastures ne^v;" to the Jackal a plenty of 
bones to pick; to the Cat an abundance of mice and cream ; to the 
Spaniel the run of the kitchen ; and to the Opossum a perpetual 
persimmon tree. 

To the Rhinoceros he promised that his horn should be exalted, 
and his ambition gratified by a mission to Siberia, which he had 
previously intended for his friend the Skunk, of Maryland ; where- 
upon, the Rhinoceros, in a rapture of poetic frenzy, exclaimed : " Now 
are the Wit/ters of our discontent made glorious Summers by this 
son of I'orA'." 

At last tl.e Serpent sneaked up to the stump and whispered in 
the ear of the Owl that he had brought over Governor Boar himself 
by the promise of a bucket of swill, and that if he — the Owl — would 
only go for submission to Old Abe, he should be one of his counsel- 
lors; whereupon the old Owl winked, and cried Avhoo ! whoo ! ! 
which in owl language signifies assent. 

The Committee then made the following report : — 

Whereas, His Majesty the Orang-Outang of Illinois has been 
duly and constitutionally elected the king of all the beasts in the 
United States of North America ; therefore, be it 

liesolvedy That it becomes the duty of every beast and of every 
community of beasts in these United States to submit Jiumhly and 
cheerfully X.O t\\Q authority of the said Orang-Outang, and that the 
honor, glory and dignity of the Old Dominion may be safely entrust- 
ed to his keeping. 

Jiesolved, That we will resist with all our might and to the last 
extreiuity any attempt at the coercion of our Southern brethren, but 
that we do not consider the enforcement of the laws to be coercion ; 
and if our Southern brethren resist the enforcement of the Federal 
laws, coercion then becomes simply resistance to rebellion, and must 
be acquiesced in by all good citizens. 

.Resolved, That Ave tender our congratulations to His Majesty, 
the Orang-Outang, to the beautiful Queen-Consort, to the accom- 
,plished Prince Bob-O'Link and the rest of the Royal Family upon 



13 

their accession to the throne, and hope that in the distribution of 
their Royal favors tliey will not be unmindful of their humble and 
dutiful subjects in the Old Dominion. 

The question was then put and the report of the committee was 
adopted by a large mnjority. 

Three liearty cheers were then given for King Abe and the coun- 
cil adjourned sine die. 



APRIL 17, 1861. 

The great event of all our lives has at last come to pass. A war 
of gigantic proportions, infinite consequences and indefinite dura- 
tion is on us, and will affect the interests and happiness of every man, 
woman, or child, lofty or humble, in this country called Virginia. We 
cannot shun it, we cannot alleviate it, we cannot stop it. We have 
nothing left now but to fight our way through these troubles ; and 
the inquiry most interesting at the moment is. What are our means 
of resistance ? 

We believe that we inform the public with considerable accuracy 
on this point, when we declare that the State's public means of re- 
sistance are simply nil. Virginia has few serviceable arms and 
scarcely any powder. The wdiole amount on hand is two hundred 
kegs, and two hundred and forty more ordered. 



APEIL 9, 1861. 

So long as Virginia was possessed with the notion that she was 
controlling every thing and making peace, she seemed sufficiently 
convenient, and was, in fact, tolerably subservient, to the designs of 
the Northern powers ; but the day she learned that they had called 
out seventy-five thousan<l men to make her sure to them, she turned 
aronnd and walked out of their Union with the step of an old Queex. 
Had they possessed the faculty of appreciating her virtues, thej^ 
might have cnjoled her into their schemes for a very much longer 
time. But the low-fiung and mercenary vulgarity which pervades 
all the North and inspires the councils of the Yankee President has 
proved her salvation. Lincoln declares war against the South, and 
his Secretary demands from Virginia a quota of cut-throats to deso- 
late Southern firesides. 

A great difference of opinion on a point necessitating violent 
sentiment of opposition has prevailed in this State for many 
months past. But that difference was not in every case the result 
of a distinction either in character or patriotism. Had all the rnen 
of this State foreseen the course of events with an equality of vision, 
it is quite certain that there would never have been a party in Vir- 
ginia to advocate submission to Black Republican rule under any 



14 

guarantee whatever. But it is still a just matter of amazement that 
such a ditference of opinion ever arose among the educated classes ; 
and the utter incapacity to appreciate either the vote of last Novem- 
ber or the current of events that has bet^n running away with the 
country since then proves how far statesmanship has declined in 
Virginia. The country gentlemen and heads of the bar had been 
living so long in the heart of peace and prosperity, that they did not 
know the old demon of revolution even when he was up bodily before 
them, witli every infernal ensiun about hira that he ever wore in 
history. They persisted in thinking him only an ordinary and 
evanescent imp of a spring election, whom they had often seen be- 
fore. Had they ever witnessed a revolution or a war either here or 
elsewhere ; had they ever w\atched the incipient steps and symptoms 
of those great troubles which leave indelible marks on the world ; had 
they observed the movement of a race that finds itself in a false position 
even once, they would not have doubted tlie nature of the crisis that 
has existed here for these six months past. A mortal disease is not 
always visible to vndearned eyes. But a physician knovvs it at once 
by signs which he cannot always define to others. Having often 
seen the steps of dissolution on the human frame, he recognizes them 
in a moment where the patient seems to others sutfering only from 
the efl^ects of ordinary indisposition. He withdraws from a vain 
contest Avitli the king of terrors, and his skill brings this sole profit 
that he warns the patient to put his worldly aftairs in their due order. 
Had the majoi'ity of the Convention consisted of statesmen who 
knew more than the politics of provinces and the secession of 
counties, it would have recognized the revolution as a great and in- 
evitable fact from the moment of its meeting. Then the patient 
Vf'ould have made a will, and we would not now have the law-suit 
of a war on our hands. The separation would have been peaceable 
and its consequences arranged by negotiation. But although it is 
nearly certain tliat the trouble of to-day is the result of their error, 
it is no longer the time to indulge in reproach. The Ordinance of 
Secession places us altogether, and every patriot will seek in the 
sincerity of his heart to heal all the wounds which this controversy 
has pioduceil. Our triumph, if siich it is, is still a sad one, and for 
conquei'ed and captive there are those who have surrendered to 
their own conscience and honor. 



MAY 8, 1861. 

In the late debates of Congress of this Confederacy, jSfi'. Wright, 
of Georgia, showed a true appreciation of the crisis when he advo- 
cated the grant of power to the President that would enable him to 
make immediate defense of Richmond and to bring the whole force 
of the Confederacy to bear on tiie aftairs of Virginia. It is here 
that the fate of the Confederacy is to be decided, and the time is too 
short to permit red tape to interfere with public safety. No power 



15 

in Executive hands can be too great, no discretion too absolute, at 
such moments as these. We need a Dictator. Let hiwj'ers talk 
when the world has time to hear them. Now let the sword do its 
work. Usurpations of power by the chief for the preservation of 
the people from robbers and murderers will be reckoned as genius 
and ])atriotism by all sensible men now and by every historian that 
will judge the deed hereafter. 

If President Davis is the man for the times, and if the Southern 
Confederacy is worthy of existence, both will come at once to the 
front. We will not say that Virginia, like Maryland, will sink on 
lier knees, if left alone, before the North; even to call up the hosts 
of the South we wouhl not say that, for it would be a lie. Vir- 
ginia has taken her stand; she will not yield it; she will never re- 
cede. Even if left to her OAvn resoui'ces, she will certainly use them. 
France, after her first revolution, was not more certain for fight 
against all the odds of a world in arms than is the State of Virginia. 
If the ])inch comes, we may see a few poltroon men mob the State 
authorities for submission, and a few selfish women will cry and 
wail. But if we are sure of any thing, it is of Viiginia pluck. She 
will be cut into ten thousand pieces rather than yield. Now that 
the die is cast she will stand it. If traitors or cowards try to inter- 
fere, her people will hang and shoot them. Virginia will not yield, 
and will meet force with force even if left alone to do it. 

But the Southern States are both traitors and cowards if they do 
not come at once to the front. All their available forces should be 
brought to the banks of the Potomac with the least loss of time. 
Especially should President Davis give Virginia the advantage of 
his presence. It would be worth an army of fifty thousand men. 
It would give confidence and authority to all the State's move- 
ments. 

The people of Virginia ratified the Ordinance before the Conven- 
tion passed it ; the State seceded long before the Convention fuund it 
out. The ratification by the people on the 23d of May is a mere 
formality. There is but one opinion now in this State. The vote 
will be all one way. To wait for it is nothing but red tape in its 
worst form. The hour for action is on us, and, if the South has half 
the decision for which it bears the credit, that hour will not pass 
unemployed. 



JUNE 12, 1861. 

There is a prevailing disposition in the South to overestimate the 
value of European sympathy to the participants in the American 
struggle. This symi)aihy is only valuable to us so far as it may 
procure our recognition as a belligerent power, endowed with the 
sovereign rights of war. It is only valuable, in other words, so far 
as it secures fair play to us from neutrals. All we want from Europe 
is the recognition of our rights as a belligerent ]>ower. After those 
rights are granted, we pi'cfer their neutrality to their friendship, or 



16 

even alliance. It is important to us that we should sell our cotton 
and other leading staples. This we can do, to a considerable extent, 
during the pendency of the war, if those immunities and privileges 
are conceded to us which belong of right to belligerents. If Ave are 
a belligerent power, then our privateers are allowed to rove the seas. 
The whole importance of the sympathy of Europe in our behalf, 
therefore, concentrates in the single question of our acknowledgment 
as a belligerent power. Nor is it so much the sympathy of Europe 
that we desire as its affirmative opinion, its favorable juilgment, 
upon the question of our political status. Now, it must be recol- 
lected that this question will be determined by Europe Kpon/acts ; 
it will not be settled by mere sympathies. The facts, which will 
decide this question in Europenn estimation, are those only which 
concern our ability to maintain ourselves in the struggle in which 
we are engaged and which indicate our probable success or failure 
in accomplishing the objects of the struggle. 



JUNE 15, 1861. 

The combat at Bethel is the first event of this war that gives 
comfort to the heart of the South. Here, it will be said in after times, 
soldiers of the Southern Confederacy proved that they could whip 
Yankees. Here it was first established that all Virginia Generals 
were not under the spell of Scott's genius. Here the policy of re- 
treat was for the first time laid aside. 



JULY 2, 18C1. 

There is no quality of man's character that depends so much on 
training, habit and education as personal courage. We see this fact 
exhibited and illustrated every day in the ordinary vocations and 
amusements of life. The greatest coward learns to stand and to 
work fearlessly at his trade on slender, insecure scafi'olding, at the 
fourth story of a house. The bravest man, unused to ascend to 
fearful heights, trembles and recoils as he looks below, or feels a 
giddiness and "toss of desperation in the head" which impel him to 
plunge into the abyss. The landsman fears the sea; the sailor is 
ill at ease on horseback; the denizen of cities trembles in the dark 
forest ; and the countryman feels scared and skittish mid thronging 
crowds and rattling omnibuses and whistling steam cars of the city. 
"Use is second nature," and men can be taught and habituated to 
meet danger in any form. The Yankee is afraid of guns and horses, 
because he has not been taught to shoot and ride in boyhood — and 
it is hard to leai'u any thing in manhood. He is afraid to fight with 
gunpowder, not only because he feels thnt his want of skill in marks- 
manship unduly and unequally exposes his life, but also because his 



17 

whole moral nature has, from infancy, been trained and moulded to 
consider it the greatest of crimes to meddle with " the viilanous 
saltpetre." 

It is as easy to teach a man to be a coward as to train him to be 
brave. Cowardice is carefully inculcated on the Yankee from his 
birtli ; and if he be not a coward, he must be a fool who won't take 
education. But he is no fool ; for, whilst he is tavight that fighting 
is unprofitable, and therefore to be avoided, he is instructed, at the 
same time, that cunning and sharpness and cheating are very credit- 
able and very profitable; and no one learns these latter lessons more 
readily and rapidly than he. He is born like other people, but be- 
comes a coward and a knave from severe training and careful edu- 
cation. Every day we hear it said and see it written that the peo- 
ple of the North are personally as brave as the people of the South. 
It is wholly untrue. We are tlieir superiors, not only because we 
are more accustomed to and more skillful in the use of arms, but also 
because their natural courage has been carefully eradicated by edu- 
cation, and ours as carefully encouraged, fostered, and improved. 

What! that people brave whose foremost and most admired men 
have been kicked, caned and cowhided as unresistingly as spaniel 
dogs. 



JULY 8, 1861. 

The presence of an inferior race influences and/<(f^w to mould the 
manners and the character of the white man in the South. It in- 
spires every citizen with the feeling of pride and decent self-respect ; 
renders him dignified in deportment and nioi'e circumspect in conduct 
and conservative in feeling than he would be without it. No man 
likes to let himself down before his inferiors — to play harlequin be- 
fore his chidren, or to descend to familiarity with his servants. — 
White men, whether slave-owners or not, unconsciously, and with- 
out design or effort, behave with reserve, circumspection and dig- 
nity in the presence of negroes. None but the base and criminal 
make companions or associates of them. Half of the lives of tlie 
Southerners is passed in the presence of the blacks, and. hence the 
manners which we have described grow into a feeling and a habit, 
and a high sense of self-respect coupled with aristocratic bearing 
become a part of character. All white men carefully avoid to fall 
into or practice whatever is peculiar to the morals or manners of the 
slave: and as he is given to theft and lying, these crimes and immo- 
ralities are less common with the whites at the South than in other 
Christian countries. 

All history shows that slavery never did enervate national char- 
acter, but has always strengthened and improved it. If, however, 
there were no other evidence of the influence of slavery in elevating 
and purifying the character of the citizen, abundant proof might be 
had by inditing a comparison between the Government at Wash- 
ington and the Government at Richmond. The Federal President 



is a common sot and low buffoon ; yet lie represents fairly the party 
and the sec^tion that elected him, and is a titling sam]>le and expo-, 
nent of Northern society. His cabinet are equally vulgar with him- 
self, and far more bigoted and vindictive. 

Universal liberty and equality, universal elections, absolute ma- 
jorities, eternal demagogisin and free competition, have leveled, 
degraded, demoralized and debased Northern society. Nobody there 
sees any one beneath himself-; — lower, meaner, or more contemptible 
than himself Hence nobody there respects himself Vain and arro- 
gant Northerners we have seen, but have yet to see, to hear of, or 
read about the first one who, self-poised in his own good opinion, 
and respecting himself, knew always how to respect others. All 
Yankees are vain, arrogant and independent, and carry on their 
visages and in their manners a sort of " Fra-as-good-as-you " as- 
sertion simply because they feel that they are not as good as you. 



JULY 22, 1861. 

All day yesterday, under the hot sun of July, the army of the 
North and the army of the South wrestled over the ])lains of Man- 
assas. The great fight has been fought, and it has pleased Jehovah, 
the Lord of battles, to crown with victory the standard of the 
Southern Confederacy. 

At this hour, the deepest anxiety that can overwhelm the human 
heart is settled on this city. We know that a victory, such as 
never yet was won on American soil, has been gained by Southern 
manhood. We know that it was resolutely contested by the enemy 
and that a terrible loss of life has taken place. We know the names 
of some general officers who have follen. But few families in this 
city had not some dear member in that army which fought yester- 
day for liberty and for country; and of our brothers, sons, husbands, 
friends who were not titled with such office we know nothing now. 

The battle commenced at nine o'clock on yesterday morning ; it 
was ended by the flight of the enezny at four in the evening; our 
troops remained masters of the field. We are happy to announce 
that our troojDS were, at the last advices, in hot pursuit of the flying 
enemy. Whether the pursuit will be pushed to extremities, and the 
batteries around Alexandria and on Arlington Heights stormed at 
once, while the foe is confused and dispirited and our men warmed 
with victory, is uncertain. But this we know, that if we have a 
Bonaparte among our generals, we would enter Washington at 
the heels of a Federal rout. 



JULY 24, 18GL 

It is practicable for the South, within six weeks from this day, to 
have an army of five hundred thousand men ready at a moment's no- 



19 

tice to take up the line of march for any destination. There is no 
reason why our generals should be constantly ke])t before the enemy 
laboring under the grievous disadvantage of having a greatly inferior 
force to that opposed to them. There is no reason why a single 
day's hazard of disaster should have been run, or sliould be run, 
from this cause. The South can spare half a million of men ; and 
that number will place her on an equality with the North upon 
every field. 

The country expects its Congress to take immediate and efficient 
steps in providing a large and thoroughly-appointed army, able in 
numbers, as well as in pluck, to cope with the enemy on every field 
and to meet invasion by counter-invasion. The South has suffered 
long enough from the incursions of the Northern Vandals. It is 
time that she were commending the chalice from which she has 
drank so deeply to the lips of the enemy. It is certain that peace 
will never come until war is carried to their own doors. 

The South can furnish men in nbundance for this ])urpose. She 
need not stand one hour on the defensive. Ohio and Pennsylvania 
ought to feel, in less than four weeks, the terrors which agitate the 
cowardly and the guilty when retributive vengeance is at hand. 
They talk of making the South defray the expenses of their own 
armies. In four weeks our generals should be levying contributions 
in money and property from their own towns and villages. We 
trust that our army will be at once raised to four hundred and fifty 
thousand men. 



AUGUST 7, 18G1. 

The evident and predetermined spite toward the South which 
characterizes the letters of the Times' correspondent since he has 
gotten back to the soil of abolition is one of the chief reasons why 
we have reprinted them. These people write to please the Euro- 
pean public, and they know, what we refuse to believe, that the 
entire European pubhc is animated by the most unfriendly senti- 
ment towards the Southern conmiunity. 

The times are too serious to admit of indulgence in pleasing 
dreams. It is important that we should receive this truth, that our 
position in the late Union has degraded us in the eyes of the world, 
and that, in the process of time, our character has been so succesfully 
darkened by the representations of our Xorthern fellow-citizens 
that it is assumed to be the combination of every thing that is vil- 
lainous. 

We have not a friend on earth and can place no reliance on any 
help beyond that which we may find in our own hearts and earn 
with our own swords. The sentiment of the European continent 
towards the people and the laws of this country is exhibited in a 
thousand ways. We have become the stock monsters of all public 
showmen ; the wickedness of Southern slaveholders is received as 
the first axiom of political truth ; we point the moral and adorn the 



20 

tale of every dealer in the platitudes of public remark. Our position 
before tlie world, during the last ten years of the Union, has been 
thoroughly and perfectly odious ; and, however disagreeable to our 
feelings, it is right that we should know the truth and realize its 
extent, that we may find the reason and the remedy of this universal, 
baseless, but most malignant folly. If we ask the cause of it, our 
assailants are of course ready to allege the villainy of holding slaves 
as the sufficient explanation. But the world is full of slaveholding 
nations which are the objects of no such animosity. Tfie Southern 
States only are the scapegoats of mankind and the recipients of all 
the abuse and falsehood that the bad hearts and foolish heads can 
invent. 

The cause of that unenviable notoriety is not the existence of 
slavery in these States, but because we w^ere, till lately, bound to 
another people, wdio hated us, and, when not too busy in cheating 
us, made our injury and defamation the business of their existence. 
In this work they were ardently assisted by the whole of England, 
high and low, great and small, because England recognized in the 
South the real America that rebelled against her and beat her. 
The world has only seen the South through Northern spectacles 
tinted with the British jaundice. 

We have taken the first and best step to deliver ourselves of 
odium when we seceded from the Northern Union and declared the 
Northern people our enemies. Their tales about the South can no 
longer be received as the statements of the country itself, and other 
nations will seek and obtain information concerning us from difterent 
sources. But we will never be clear of the evil and undeserved 
reputation that we bear till we prove our power to make ourselves 
respected. We must be our own champions and write our true 
titles with the sword. Plalf the venom of our enemies has had its 
source in contempt. All the vituperation of the North has begun 
and ended with a declaration of our weakness, our cowardice, and 
our imbecility. 

Things have come to that pass with us that the most certain 
means of obtaining injury, calumny, and scorn from foreign people, 
is to attempt their conciliation or seek their applause. Not till we 
prove ourselves independent of their opinions, above and beyond 
their help, will we obtain their amity and justice. We must return 
disdain for disdain, defiance for calumny, put far from us the fallacy 
that we have any friend in the world, or can get any, till we have 
placed our power to command our fate beyond cavil or doubt. On 
our own swords we must lean, on our own arms we must rely for 
help, till we shall no longer need any other. 



AUGUST 14, 1861. 

This is a sectional war. The dissolution of the Union was the 
result of a sectional quarrel. The war is not a civil war; it is a 



21 

Avar of two countries divided by geogrnpliical lines and interests. 
It is a quarrel of patriotism and not of opinion. We sav/ the proof 
of these truths in the annihilation of all parties and i)rinciples in the 
Northern Union on the day when the first sliot was fired. That shot 
killed several millions of Northern men with Southern principles. 
Those who had been most notorious for the advocacy of Southern 
rights and interests so long as we had any bribes to offer them, be- 
came equally remarkable for their viinilent animosity and atrocious 
menaces against the people of the Southern Confederacy so soon as 
the real dissolution of the Union answei'ed the question of interest. 
Of all our fast friends at the North, only two, Pierce and Vallan- 
digham, were simple enough to stand by the professions of their 
lives. Everett, Fillmore, Gushing, Sickles, Van Buren vied with 
Sumner, Greeley and Giddings in the fiendish screams for a bloody 
subjugation of the South. 

The truth is, every Yankee had hated every Southern citizen 
from the day of his birth. Those who know them will all bear out 
the assertion that the root of bitterness was deeply planted in every 
Northerii heart. Interest and policy alone had prevented the flower 
and the fruit. When interest and policy no longer covered the soil, 
it sprang at once into life and light. 

But what will not any Yankee do and say at the command of in- 
terest ? What principles will he not adopt, Avhat professions will he 
not make, what colors will he not wear, what skin will not grow 
over his bones, when they command money and when thrift will 
follow his fawning ? When all the North was united by undisguised 
hati'ed of the South, till their nation of millions seemed one man — 
the South still had many Northern friends. We had not far to go 
should we desire to see them — they were collected around the doors 
of every department of the new Government. 



AUGUST 23, 1861. 

Although tuft-hunting is studied as a science and pursued as a 
profession in Europe, yet the Yankees have such remarkal)le natural 
talents for toadyism, flunkyism, and tuft-hunting, that they beat the 
professors of the art of cringing by force of sheer natural genius. 
In other countries tuft-hunting is followed because it is a profitable 
species of meanness; but the Yankee is a toady because he can no 
more refrain from boot-licking than a cat can keep its paws off a mouse. 

Utterly destitute of self-respect and manhness, the Yankee 
must prostrate himself before something which he believes to be 
greater than himself. He loves to fawn about the feet of European 
monarchs and noblemen ; and, like the ancient Egyptian, he is ready 
to worship any thing from Apis down to an onion or a grasshoiDper. 
His appetite for toadyism is omnivorous. He prefers traveling lords 
and princes, but in default of these legitimate victims of tuft-hunt- 
ers he hunts down all sorts of small game. Dancing women, Jap- 



22 

anese ambassailors, English authors, cabinet officers, ConoTcssraen, 
Huugari.in refugees, and man j^ of Barnum's most remarkable mon- 
sters, have been in their day the gods of Yankee idolatry. Many 
of our readers have at "levees" and "receptions" witnessed the 
elaborate self-abasement of the Yankee flunky. 

Something to Avorship and fawn upon is ju>^t as essential to the 
Yankee as his " lielp " and his counting-house. If he is rich and c:m go 
abroad, he dishonors and degrades the name of American by his 
coarse, low and slavish flattery of small German princes and unscrupu- 
lous French counts. He has won throughout Europe tlie reputation 
of being the most obsequious and ridiculous of flunkies. 

Whilst Lincoln pretended to respect the Constitution, the 
Yankees manifested no especial esteem for him. They admitted 
that he was nothing more than a flfth-rate prairie attorney half-edu- 
cated and ill-bied, whose manners were those of a village wag and 
wd)ose morals were not at all in advance of his manners. They ad- 
mitted that he was a sort of Presidential Soulouque or chimpanzee who 
owed his elevation to a strange freak of a veiy villanous party. 
As soon, however, as the Baboon throttled their liberties, tramjjled 
downright upon the said Constitution, put a bit into their mouths 
and manacled their h.ands, they began to worship and admire him. 
As soon as he became a military dictator and usurper, the spirit 
of Yankee tiunkyism was aroused in his favor. 



AUGUST 29, 1861. 

PiTULic opinion in the Southern Confederacy, guided by a sense 
of public danger, has destroyed all traces of the old party lines and 
does not permit of their revival. Whether a man wag Whig or 
Democrat a year ago is no longer a pertinent question. But there 
is one party in Virginia that will not die, that cannot change, and is 
unable to "disguise its identity. It is that submissionist party 
which ruled the State from the assemblage of the Convention till the 
arrival of President Davis, and which has sought to take possession 
of the Confederate Government, as it did of the State Executive, 
but has failed, because that Government had a sober Chief Magis- 
trate. Hatred to the South and appetite for office were the anima- 
ting sentiments of that party. Both still buin with undimini:<hed 
fire in tlie bosom of every submit<sionist, whatever his new name 
may be and wherever he is now placed. Their party organization 
has not been abandoned. Circumstances compel them to conceal it; 
but they know and understand eacli other by a species of freema- 
sonry that conies into inunediate action the moment the great ques- 
tion of the officfs, little or big, is touched on. 

Under the old Federation this party called itself Federalist and 
it was ever ready to lessen the privileges of the States and strengthen 
the bonds of the Federal Government. In the Southern Confederacy 
its aim is apparently the opposite. It would Aveakeu and destroy 



23 

the po"\ver of the Confederation and set the States at war with it. 
But if examined, this appearance of contradiction vanislies. They 
are both external symptoms of a det'p principle ; hatre<l of the 
South nud of shivery was and is tlie key to both positions. Under 
the old Federation the safety of the South depended on the strength 
of the sovereign States; under the new order it is identified with 
the power of the Confederacy to support the weight of the mon- 
strous war. Hence the centralizing propensity of the quondam 
Federalists; hence also the new-born love of State Rights in the late 
Submissi(nnst party of Virginia. 

They are preparing this battle-horse for their political cam- 
paigns — that the Confederate government is hostile to Virginia. 
Such is tiieir slogan for tlie fall election. The translation of it is 
simply this— that the Confederate govetuTnent does not fill its otfices 
with their men. Under Letcher's administration they had and have 
everything ; and through the reprehensible custom of the Depart- 
ments, which permits the heads of bureaux to fill subordinate offices 
under their order, they have nestled a family of vipers under the 
flag they malign and Aviiose downfall they desire. There now seems 
to be a chance of stopping this practice. 



SEPTEMBER 27, 1861. 

We have been from the first fully assured that the true interest 
and policy of the South consists in a vigorous prosecution of the war. 
We are in favor of striking tlie enemy at every vulnerable ])oint. ^Tlie 
idea of waiting for blows, instead of inflicting them, is altogether 
unsuited to the genius of our people. The aggressive pc-licy is the 
truly defensive one. A colunm pushed forward into Ohio or Pennsyl- 
vania is worth more to us, as a defensive measui-e, than a whole tier 
of seacoast batteries from Norfolk to the Rio Grande. If at this 
time Sidney Johnston were menacing Cincinnati, McCuiloch threat- 
iiing St. Louis, and Jo. Johnston and Beauregard pressing on to 
Philadelphia, our word for it, the Yankee Government would have 
little time to fit out its armadas to plunder and ravage the Southern 
coast. It is altogether unnecessary to argue the self-evident propo- 
sition that it will require three regiments to defind our extended 
coast where one would be required for invasion. The object of the 
Yankees in fitting out these expeditions is to compel the withdrawal 
of the Southern regiments for the pur])Ose of defending their own 
homes. The Yankee tactics thus known to us, what is the obvious 
mode of meeting them ? Plainly, by pressing the enemy's forces to the 
border, and over the border, until a thrill of terror at the heart of 
every Dutchinan and Yankee in Ohio and Pennsylvania shall learn 
them that a war upon the South will not pay expenses. 

And here it may be well to pause and notice a remark of Mr. 
Noodle, a gentleman for whom we entertain great personal respect, 
which lies immediately in our path. — Mr. Noodle says we are making 



24 

the same mistake in advocating a forward movement as Greeley did 
in bis cry of "Onto Richmond," and that the experience of that 
celebrated white-hat philosopher should teach the common people to 
be silent upon matters w^hicli they can not understand. Mr. Noodle 
Ojnnes that the cry of " On to Washington " will end in a sort of 
Bull Run business. To all of which, -with due deference, we reply 
that the cases are not at all similar. Mr. Noodle has forgotten that 
we are not Yankees ; the Yankees are not Soutlierners. It does 
not follow because sixty thousand Yankees were unable to vanqiiish 
half that number of Southerners that the latter will necessarily be 
whipped when they have an equality of numbers. 

The Bull Run business, with which Mr. Noodle thinks to over- 
whelm us (as if it did not gratify us immensely, as far as it goes), 
is, in fact, an argument why the army should go forward. 

Prior to that memorable day of Manassas, the superiority of the 
Southern men over the Yankees had been demonstrated to our en- 
tire satisfaction ; but there were in our midst some who questioned 
it and the North certainly did not recognize the assumption. It 
was natural for them to belicA^e that sixty thousand Yankees could 
annihilate half that iminber of Southerners. Assuming the equality 
of the races, individually, all that was necessary was for Scott to 
equip and drill his army properly and march them on to Richmond. 
The first part of this work he did thoroughly — in a manner worthy 
of his great reputation. The error in his calculation was he did not take 
into sufficient account the essential diftereuce between Northern 
and Southern men. It is not true that he allowed himself to be 
hurried forward. He never did that in his life, especially in military 
matters. He took from the first of May, or thereabouts, to tlie 20th 
of July to prepare, equip, and discipline his army, and if they lost 
the day at Manassas it was simply because, in the Providence of 
God, they were fashioned with different hearts from the men they 
had to deal w^ith. 

The battle of Manassas demonstrated, at once and forever, the 
superiority of the Southern soldiers, and there is not a man in the 
army, from the humblest private to the highest officer, who does not 
feel it. Now, this piece of information is extensively diffused in the 
camp of the enemy. They know, now, that when they go forth to 
the field they will encounter a master race. The consciousness of 
this fact will cause their knees to tremble beneath them in the day 
of battle. It will demoralize them. It has already done so. 

The establishment of this patent fact of Southern superiority 
changes all the conditions of the argument. It utterly invalidates 
Mr. Noodle's comparison, which he esteemed so happy and conclu- 
sive. Did he but possess a tithe of that hard common sense which 
he despises in the people as incapable of dealing with these military 
questions, he would see Avhat we have endeavored to make plain to 
him, viz. : that " ciicumstances alter cases," and that the march of 
our army upon Washington is altogether a different thing from 
McDowell's inauspicious tramp to this beautiful and attractive capital. 



25 



NOVEMBER 2, 1861. 

We regard it as a matter of the highest importance that in a 
struggle with an enemy superior in numbers, capital, munitions of 
war, and having entire command of the pca, that concord and har- 
mony should exist imiong ourselves. We need the hearty co-opera- 
tion of every State and of all Southern people, in order to cope with 
our formidable adversary. But these are the lowest motives for 
unity. Bound together by community of institutions and racp, Dy 
common wrongs, common perils, and common hopes, we ought to 
be drawn together closer than brothers. The remembrance of the 
battle-field of this war, to which exw?h State has contributed her he- 
roes and her martyrs for liberty, ought to inspire such a feeling of 
mutual charity and respect that the just susceptibilities of no State 
should ever be wounded by unkind and uncalled-for criticism. 

We are happy to believe that these views reflect the sentiments 
of the great mass of the people of the South. We regret to say 
there are sometimes found men wearing the uniform of Southern 
officers and soldiers who are mean enougli to enter Virginia thresh- 
olds, and, in ^he absence of Virginia gentlemen, to titter, before 
ladies, whose hospitalities they enjoy, remarks disparaging to the 
patriotisjja of this State, the devotion of lier population to the South- 
ern cause, and even reflections ujion the behavior of her sons in the 
field. Conduct like this hardly requires comment. Such criticism 
comes fitly Irom those who are not found speaking them on tlie field 
in the line of their duty, but, perhaps enjoying sick-leave, obtained 
on false pretences, and leaving to those tliey defame the work of 
meeting the enemy. The number of these offenders is hardly larcre 
enough to justify any extended notice, but there is a greater num- 
ber floating about in the social circle and on the streets, who con- 
trive to insinuate a considerable amount of laudation for themselves 
and their respective States, winding up their orations with the dec- 
laration tliat they have "come here to fight the battles of Virginia." 
With such intolerable stupidity and insolence we have no sort of 
patience. We think it not amiss to devote a few words to showing 
how utterly false and impertinent the proposition really is. 

How does it happen that Virginia is involved in this war ? The 
history is so fresh that we wonder fool or knave could attempt to 
pervert it. Our sister States of the far South had flung off their 
connection with the Federal Government, and had, in the exercise 
of an undoubted right, erected for themselves a new Confederacy. 
The Northern Government denied their right to leave the Union, 
and declared that they w^ould coerce them to remain under its yoke, 
whether they liked it or not. War was declared against tliem in 
Lincoln's proclamation. At this stage of affairs Virginia acted. 
She threw herself between her sister States of the South and their 
cruel, usurping foe. She took the fight on herself, knowing, full 
well, that she would be exposed to the Northern power, that her 
fields would have to endure the havoc and ravage of the wir, that 
3 



26 

her soil would loe ploughed up by the iustruments of death, that she 
would have to bear the first onset of the foe. She knew the cost 
full well of what she was doing, but there was one voice only among 
her people. However she may have appeared before this to hesi- 
tate or be divided in council, now all was decisive, manly action. 
It wns a word and a blow to tlie Northern tyrant. Lethargic she 
might have been liitherto, but when peril and subjugation threatened 
the South, she rose in her might and her majesty to the great work 
before her. She was like one of the knights of the olden time, who 
lay torpid under some foul spell of the enchantei*. But the trumpet 
of war is blown — he starts from his slumbers, and, with lance in rest 
and soul on fire, he rushes to the post of duty and of danger. 

Those who know the course of this journal Avill remember how 
earnestly we urged the early, immediate secession of Virginia be- 
cause of the election of Abraham Lincoln. That was ample warrant 
for us to counsel revolution. We would have had Virginia leave 
the Union on that plea alone. But for a convention which misrep- 
resented public sentiment, this would have been done. But could 
there be a loftier or more honorable motive for secession than the 
proclamation of coercion upon six sister Southern States? Virginia 
acted at once and without consultation with others. Her pledged 
friends and allies were far away. The enemy, with his giant strength 
and long-accumulated resources, lay at her very door. True, she 
might rely with great confidence on her noble and honored neighhors, 
North Carolina and Tennessee, hut the delay of Missouri and Ken- 
tucky shows the risk she ran, and proves the intrepi'iity of her policy. 

We suspect that some little of this contemptible spirit of dispar- 
agement springs from the fact that Virginia was tnrdy in seceding. 
If the real facts of the secession movements were fully known, or 
could be freely exposed, the reply would be easy enough. Some 
of the Southern States were carried for secession by small majori- 
ties. No one of them acted without the strongest assurances and 
conviction of co-operation by others. We are grateful to those 
■who led oft', we admire tlie spirit in which they acted, and at no 
time have been slow in vindicating their motives and their conduct, 
but we happen to know that this revolution was like every other 
that has occurred in the history of the world. It had to struggle 
against a powerful opposition, against the timidity of the weak and 
the selfish, and was finally borne through over the counsels of time- 
serving politicians by the untiring labors of intrepid leaders, aided 
by the instincts of a brave and spirited people. Had South Carolina, 
Georgia, and Alabama lay along-side the northern border, exposed 
to the ravages of war, we think it not unlikely that quite as large a 
number would have been fouml, among their peojile, for a pacific 
solution of the troubles as was found in Virginia and Tennessee. 

We should do a flagrant injustice to States which we admire, if 
we faUed to say that tlie style of remarks upon which we comment 
are repudiated as invidious and unworthy detraction by the great 
mass of their people, and more especially by those who on the field 
of strife have become endeared to their brethren in arms of every 



21 

State. On those battle-fields there is no State of the South whose 
sons have not done nobly and well. When we consider the odds 
they have had to encounter, in numbers, artillery and equipments, 
the short time they have had to learn the work of war, we know not 
how siifKciently to admire their bravery and determination. These 
noble qualitii'S are the attributes of our race everywhere, whether 
in the sunny clime of Louisiana and Carolina, or in the descendants 
of those in this latitude who defied British tyranny, whether found 
in Virginia, Kentucky, or Missouri. There is enough glory for all 
•without <k'tracting from any. There is abundant room for each 
State to find gratification, not only in the achievements of her own 
sons, but in those of other States whose fame and honor form apart 
of her own heritage. 

Virginia claims no superiority in this war, but she does claim to 
have (lone her whole duty. She has contributed largely in men, 
artillery, small-arms, and machinery. Her land has been desolated 
in parts. Families born to affluence have been stripped of all they 
possessed. Women of refinement, bred in the enjoyment of every 
luxury, have been made beggars upon the charity of the Avorld. 
The fiite of South Carolina during the war of 1776 has been that of 
a large poition of Virginia during this war. It is plain enough that 
other evils are in store. But there is no regret among our j)eople, 
no looking bnck. Our path is onward to independence. Be it 
through blood, poverty, and toil, at the cost of all we possess, we 
shall tread it with unfaltering trust. And this is the firm determina- 
tion ot a people with whom resistance to tyrants is a watchword and 
a sign forever. This purpose nothing can shake ; not the taunt of 
the ingrate, not the sneer of the braggart shirking his dut}- and the 
truth, not the fear of any accumulation of hostile forces, not any 
amount of calamity and disaster, or suflfering which Heaven may in- 
flict to prove the strength of a noble and firm resolve. 



NOVEMBER 23, 1861. 

There are some persons not over and above qualified to pass judg- 
ment upon the future, who take a gloomy view of our public affairs. 
For ourselves, we cherish no despondency, we are satisfied with the 
balance of defeat and success, and look forward with the confidence 
of a certain faith to a full and glorious triumph for our arms. But, 
if any thing could inspire a doubt in our minds, or suggest a fear that 
all was not going on well with us, it would be the cool effrontery 
with which persons, whom the public judgment has unmistakably 
stamped as false to the cause of liberty, and whom the severity of 
that condenmation has, for a space, forced to seek a cover, now dare 
to emerge from their fitly chosen retreats and once more provoke 
general disgust by impudent assumptions. It would appear that 
they, at least, must believe in the triumph of the Yankees, or they 



28 

could not be thus emboldened to essay an experiment upon the 
patienct' of an outraged Commonwealth, 

We aie told, on the highest of all authority, that Gorl, in his wrath, 
sent the Israelites a king to rule over them. Had John Letcher 
lived in those days he would have been taken for the purpose. By 
some inscrutable dispensation of Providence this man has been in- 
flicted as a curse upon the people of Virginia. That we have erred 
as a people is but too true ; still the punishment seems heavy. If 
this man would but keep quiet, avoid the impertinence of seeking 
newspaper puffs, and show by his silence some faint recognition of 
the peculiar estimation in which he is held all over the South, we, 
in turn, unwilling to expose the disgrace of our State, would let him 
alone, and be content to consider him in the same way that a devout 
Mussulman regards a December fall of snow — as a " cold, uncomfort- 
able, unaccountable visitation of Divine Providence, sent, perchance, 
for some good purpose to be revealed hereafter." But when he 
undertakes to prate about the " public authorities " and what they 
have done for the cause, we think it not amiss to overhaul his pre- 
tensions without delay. 

The Governor informs the Virginia Convention that " evil-disposed 
persons in our midst, claiming to be Virginians by birth, have mis- 
represented facts and distorted truth, with a view of injuring the 
public authorities [i. e., himself] in popular estimation, and dispar- 
aging the efforts made by the Commonwealth to advance the com- 
mon cause." In this there is a slight modicum of truth, the residuum 
not being of that description, and bearing the same relation to the 
former as did the sack in Jack Falstaff^s tavern bill to the charge 
for bread. And this simile we quote for its aptness rather than for 
any other point of similitude it may suggest to " evil-disposed per- 
sons," disposed to disparage the moral habits of the "public authori- 
ties." 

Any man who would " disparage the efforts made by the Common- 
wealth " is base and evil-disposed, indeed,"and deserves any thing 
rather than to be complimented by the Governor's censure. Such, 
a one depreciates efforts of our people, which, for nobility, self- 
■sacrificing heroism, stand out so bright and glowing upon the his- 
toric page that the "daub of a tipsy painter cannot efface their 
beauty. Never, in all time, have a people acted better. They have 
made the name of Virginia ring in the ears of the world with 
a new glory; they have wrought a fresher fame than all the deeds 
of our hrst deliverance. And when the Muse of history shall nar- 
rate what has been done in this great war by the people, the num- 
"bers who have rushed to the field, their conduct in action, the 
munificence of those who have aided the soldier by money, clothing, 
and provisions, the generous enthusiasm of our women, their ministry 
of love and charity by the bed of the sick and the wounded, the rare 
patience with which the evils and ravages of the war have been borne 
by those who saw their homes made desolate by the neglect and 
improvidence of an imbecile Governor, it will not be requisite to 
augment the gratitude of those who shall come after us by stating 



29 

the notorious fact that all this was accomplished not by the aid, but 
actually in spite, of the Executive of Virginia. And y^-t how much 
more praise deserves to be accorded to the patriotism of our people, 
when we consider that it rose superior to every obstacle and sur- 
mounted the opposition of John Letcher as easily as the Father of 
Waters would bear down an ugly, njisshapen log upon its mighty 
current. 

Yes, there is one, and only one " evil-disposed " person who would 
" disparage," if he could gain credence for his perverted statements, 
the eftbrts made by the people of Virginia, and that jierson is the 
man who dares to insinuate that he and the Commonwealth are one 
and identical, and that his action is to be taken as the measure of 
what Virginia has performed. It is a substitution more criminal by 
far than the changing of children at nurse, but hap}>i!y in this case 
more easily detected and more readily punished. No man of com- 
mon sense requires to be told that there is nothing in the character, 
precepts, or example of John Letcher to call upwards of sixty thou- 
sand volunteers to the tented field, or to inspire the chivalry with 
which they bore the onset of the foe. If we are not mistaken, the 
only time our doughty Governor has been near to the field, was 
wh§n, like a bird of evil omen, he rode up in his carriage on the 
road to Rich Mountain, met the fugitives from a campnign he 
claimed to have planned, and, in stern accents, with })ocket-pistol in 
hand, bade them return to their duty, and his driver to return to 
Staunton. And as he does not partake in the triumphs of the war, so, 
on the other hand, the people have no just responsibility for the shame. 
It was not through the neglect of the people of Virginia that we 
failed to capture the Lincoln Government at Washington Avhen Bal- 
timore stood ready to do her part of the work, or to seize Fortress 
Monroe before it was prepared to resist our assault and become a 
den of abolition thieves ; nor was it the treachery of the Common- 
wealth that surrendered Alexandria and Arlington Heights to the 
Yankees, and allowed the whole of northwestern Virginia to be 
overrun by the foe, when it might have been saved if the reiterated 
and urgent entreaties to send troops to that quarter had been lis- 
tened to. And if we should inquire who it Avas that systematically 
deceived the Confederate Government at Montgomery as to our 
military preparation in Virginia, overrating our strength, and thus 
lulling that Government into a false security ; or who it Avas that 
discouraged the enlistments in Virginia at the outset of the war, 
chilling, by his serpent-like contact, the generous ardor of the 
people ; or who it is that is so universally recognized as a clog and 
a hinderance upon the war as to find it necessary to falsely suggest 
that there is the greatest cordiality and unison between himself and 
the President ; or who it was that, when the enemy first threatened 
invasion, defiled the whole system of military appointments by his 
rancor and hate for every true secessionist ; and, lastly, who it is 
that has done the most to prepare us for subjugation, and who, if 
that bitter portion were our fate, would be the very first to ask for 
pardon and office from Lincoln, and to receive it ; nobody would 



30 

think of answering that it was the Commonwealth of Virginia. In- 
deed, we greatly fear that some evil-disposed person would say that 
it was John Lett-her. 

But for all this he has a triumphant answer. He has spent six 
millions of money. ladtied ! Surely it did not take one to rise from 
the fleail to inform lis how he had squandered the public funds. 
And when we ask what we have got to show for all this expendi- 
ture beyond the pensioning of his favorites, parasites, and submission- 
ists, or a weak attempt to purchase public approbation, we are told 
that "it is a source of infinite satisfaction" that all the accounts 
have been allowed. And for this, as in duty bound, the Auditing 
Board are by him duly thanked. And we, too, in our turn, oifer 
thanks from the bottorA of our hearts, not to the " Auditing Board," 
but to the Father of all Mercies, that things, bad as they are, are 
not worse, that only six and not sixty millions have been disbursed 
by one who never had a single patriotic instinct, and, more than all, 
that every day brings us nearer to that happy hour when " public au- 
thorities" shall retire fj'oin the Executive chair and taste once more 
the sweets of private life. 



NOVEMBER 29, 1861. 

The camj)aign of 1861 may be considered as over. The enemy 
still menaces action ; but what he may be able to do in the next 
fortnight cannot serioiisly aifect the result, and, when the ground 
has been loosened by the frost, he will find it impossible to do any 
thing more. We have beaten the enemy in the field and foiled him 
in this campaign. The early danger of the South — that it would 
be overwhelmed in the first months of the war, before it could organ- 
ize an army or prepare its defence, by the superior numbers and 
more abundant transportation of the Northern States — is definitely 
at an end. If we are conquered at all, now, it must be by the reg- 
ular and ordinary means of war, and not by the rush of a vast mob. 

On this nmch we may congratulate the country. But no one can 
fail to reflect with anxiety upon the next year, or observe without 
solicitude a certain unexpected feature of this struggle. It is the 
temper displayed b}^ the United States. All calculations as to the 
extent to which the party holding the powers of that country would 
carry the afl'air, have been erroneous. Before the war began, all 
men of sane minds believed that they would compromise the polit- 
ical quarrel with the South; and had the North ofiered the South 
the poorest terms, so corrupt was public sentiment in Virginia, at 
least, that those terms would have been accepted. But the Northern 
rulers never harbored for one moment the thought of any com- 
promise, and never offered any. When the war was begun, few per- 
sons in the civilized world thought that it would last six months. 
The six months have gone, the United States has endured defeat 
after defe;jt, has made sacrifice on sacrifice, and has closed an unsuc- 
cessful campaign without the slightest symptom of an approach to 



31 

reason. In fact, the peace party of the North, like the Union party 
of tlie Souih, has entirely disappeared. The whole people are com- 
pletely under the hand of the Government, and all together, people 
and Government, are bent on the prosecution of this war, even if the 
consequence should be a collision with England and a national bank- 
ruptcy such as Avas never before known. / 

Under this impulse they have steadily increased, and are still in- 
creasing, a vast regular force eidisted for an indefinite period, and 
equivalent in all its parts to a regular army. All the energy of the 
nation, and all the wealth in the cfiuntry, has gradually centred 
on that one object. They have disciplined, and are still disciplining, 
that foice by the same process that converts the peasant of every 
race into a formidable soldier. Kow, when a government is willing 
to spend, and is able to raise money, by whatever means, it can pur- 
chase an army wath the same certainty that an indvidual can pur- 
chase pairs of shoes ; and all men, however vile and cowardly they 
may be, when subjected for a sufficient time to good military organi- 
zation and severe military discipline, become dangerous when moved 
in the form of regiments and biigades in the operations of Avar. 

It is a fact which the Southern Confe leracy should not fail to 
recognize and consider, that the United States are preparing a regu- 
lar army of not less than five hundred thousand disciplined men for 
our subjugation and destruction. This is the force we must prepare 
to meet next year. It Avill be a very different army fi'om that we 
met at Bull Run. So long as volunteer was opposed to volunteer, 
raw troops to raw troops, it might be safely calculated that we 
would invari.ibly remain the victors. Setting aside all questions of 
relative manhood in the Northern and Southern people, the charac- 
ter of the levies of the two countries and the class of society from 
which they were drawn, rendered that result certain. But what will 
we oppose to their regular army of next year ? Vast numV)ers of our 
present volunteers were enlisted for twelve months, and their time 
of service will expire before the middle of the summer. How shall 
they be replaced ? 

By new volunteers ? The necessity for troops is so urgent and 
the spirit of the people so good, that there is little doubt but that 
the Confederate Government could so raise all the men it needed. 
But while Southern volunteers are fully able, under favorable cir- 
cimistances, of meeting regular soldiery with success on the field of 
battle, it is time to recognize the truth, that a force so constituted 
is incapable of answering to all the calls of w^ar, when opposed to 
an army under the iron rule of enforced enlistment and regular 
discipline. 

No half measures, or palliatives, of the well-known weaknesses 
of the volunteer system will answer the necessity of the case. We 
must raise a regular arm}", by some means resembling the conscrip- 
tions of all other nations in the world except England and America. 
That is the only system that is really just to all classes of the popu- 
lation, A certain number of men is demanded from each State. 
The State in turn demands them of its counties ; the arms-bearing 



32 

population draw lots, and those on whom the lot falls either go to 
the field, provide the substitute, or pay to the Government a sura of 
money that will enable it to provide him. Out of material thus 
obtained true soldiers can be made. With officers chosen and ap- 
pointed by the Government on which the responsibility of the war 
rests, an army so constituted is a macliine which does its work with 
the precision and energy of steam. The Southeni Confederacy 
could put into the field a force of five hundred thousand men on 
this plan, without injury to any part of its internal economy ; and 
with its appearance there, would end forever all the dangers of 
the State. 



JANUARY 1, 1862. 

The end of the year just passed fills the mind with melancholy 
reflections on the vanity of human wishes, the instability of human 
creations, and the frivolity of all the thoughts of man. Where now 
is that wonderful country which realized the political dream of phi- 
losophers and patriots; — that grand temple of libert]^ built for eter- 
nal duration ; that perfect commonwealth, w^hich gave the lie to all 
the ages, and proved the self-government of nations to be something 
more than the fable of a noble, but irrational, imagination? What 
has become of that splendid illusion which shed its lustre on the 
opening mind of the American youth — the lofty thought that he 
was born and Avould live in a glorious republic of heroic States and 
free citizens, whose title was above the royal rank and whose birth- 
right was the envy of the woiid ? One short year has ended both 
alike. The "' star-pointing pyramid " has proven a tower of Babel ; 
that noble faith in the virtue and intelligence of the soil's sons has 
given place to a disgust and indignation too deep for utterance in 
"words ; and on the plains where perpetual peace was supposed to 
have made her settled seat, war, with'all its original savagery, reigns 
undisputed. The catastrophe brouu;ht by the year that ended yes- 
terday leaves us not even the Sombre consolation of the grandeur 
that has attended the ruin of oth^r empires. The majestic fabric 
fell not beneath the giant hand 6f *an invading race, or before the 
blazing ambition of a secular genius. Enfeebled by the cankers of 
inaction and gnawed by the teeth of vermin, it has gone down like 
a ship whose timbers have been tlie imsuspected prey of worms and 
mice. Few, who meditated yesterday on these things, have not 
felt the justice of that contempt for the conceited animal called man, 
his pursuits and his projects, which religion and philosophy incul- 
cate, but i'ow have realized before. 



JANUARY 8, 1862. 



Ti E policy of monotonous defence which has been perseveringly 
pursued by the authorities of the Confederacy, has been the subject 



39 

of universal reijret among the Southern people, of annoyance to our 
generals, and of disease and deatli to our armies. On the side of 
the enemy, it has more than repaired the di.magesinfllicted upon them 
in many brilliant battles; and, among foreign nations, it has engendered 
more distrust of our ability to make good our independence than all 
other causes combined. 

On the army it has had a deplorable effect; not merely producing 
that eionii which is the fruitful mother of diseases, discontents, and 
demoralization in the camp; but it has substituted for that buoyant 
confidence and resolution to do, to dare, and to die, which actuated 
our volunteers, a wide-spread feeling of listless hopelessness of re- 
sults, with an indisposition and partial incapacity to achieve them. 

The enemy have found themselves at perfect leisure, in the 
very presence of our legions, to devise, to mature, and make trial of 
campaign or assault which they have thought expedient. Nowhere 
have they been thrown, by any movement of ours, into a moment's 
alarm for the safety of any army or any district of country in their 
possession, except on the memorable occasion of their panic for the 
safety of Washington, which the same evil genius of defence pre- 
vented from being taken by our forces. Their generals and their 
politici;ms have felt at entire liberty to plan any schemes of 
campaign, any assaults or raids, or incursions in our territory, that 
their genius might suggest or their rapacity or malignity might de- 
vise. They have encountered no opposition at any stage of prepara- 
tion for these operations. We have stood still and allowed all their 
preliminary arrangements to be perfected, attempting to nip no 
scheme of mischief in the bud, and never thinking for a single mo- 
ment or in a solitary instance how much more easily mischief may 
be crushed in its ince})tion than successfully withstood when at the 
head and in the full tide and momentum of execution. 

To all eyes abroad our energies seem to have been palsied by a 
fatal paralysis. All that might have been achieved by policy and 
genius has been neglected ; and nothing has retrieved our reputation 
for vigor and capacity but the boldness of our soldiers and the suc- 
cess of our generals in active engagement. The impression made 
upon the foreign mind is as if our generals had been all the time 
manacled by secret instructions from the closet ; and our soldiers 
leashed like hounds, forced to slink and crawl at the heels of the 
hunter, though it was felt that they were noble hounds, needing but 
the sound of the bugle to open in full and terrible cry. For a gen- 
eral to put forth exertion, was to render some explanation of con- 
duct necessary ; for him to fight battles and win victories, was to 
encounter indirect censure, to provoke the cold shoulder, and to 
inaugurate a quarrel with the powers above. 

Theefiect of this obstinate adherence to the defensive programme 
has been very deplorable upon the lists of mortality. While we 
have lost thousands by disease, we have lost only tens by the casual- 
ties of the battle-field. The noble spirits that, in volunteering for 
their country's defence, thought to seek glory at the cannon's mouth, 
have paid the debt of nature upon beds of fever in vast charnel 



u 

houses of flisease. The whole country is filled with mourning; and 
the sad lament of mother, father, Avife, sister, all, is that their kins- 
men died the horrid death of the hospital, and not the glorious death 
of the soldier on the battle-field. The policy of defence has thus 
cost the lives of gallant and brave spirit.s who chafed under inaction ; 
it has bereft our army of ten thousand heroes, who, if led against 
the enemy, M'ould have escaped the dangers of the field after win- 
ning victories that would have added lustre to our annals. 

This defensive policy has not only cost us men, but it has cost its 
territory. Many counties of eastern Virginia, and important re- 
gions on the more southern sea-boards are now occupied by the 
enemy, who would never have ventured forth to such distances if 
they had been menaced nearer home. Nearly all of western Vir- 
ginia is in the hands of an enemy who never would have gained a 
foot-hold in the interior, if our original plan of aggressive attack 
along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and fi'om Wythe- 
ville towards the mouth of the Kanawha and Sandy, through east- 
ern Kentucky towards Cincinnati, had been adhered to, instead of 
concenti-ating our forces for mere defence. This moment Bowl- 
ing Green and Columbus could be more effectually relieved and 
the Southern cause in Kentucky put more speedily on its legs, 
by menacing Cincinnati with a column from western Virginia, than 
by concentrating a hundred thousand men in the path which the 
enemy has chosen for his march from Louisville southward. That 
cannot be good generalship which leaves the enemy at perfect 
leisure to mature all his preparations for aggression, and then to 
choose the roads by which he will march and the field on Avhich he 
will fight. That cannot be a glorious system of warfare which 
never ventures an aggressive movement or even a battle, aiut which, 
though expecting an attack every day, yet decimates its ai^mies by 
inaction. ^ 



JANUARY 16, 1862. 

For a period uncertain in duration, whether of days, weeks, or 
months, the season commands a truce. This is the true winter. The 
first campaign is ended, and a time has come when it is no longer 
unsafe to review results and to consider with candor the situation of 
our affairs. 

The campaign has been strictly defensive. We have gained 
nothing, for we have attempted no gain. That we have lost com- 
paratively little of actual territory during the latter six months, is 
due only to the difficulties of invasion in a country like this, the ne- 
cessity for time to prepare half a million of soldiers, the courage of 
the Southern volunteers, and the individual cowardice of the North- 
ern mercenaries. It is, however, undeniable that the defensive 
policy, besides the moral strain on our army that awaits repeated 
and endless attack, and the exhaustion of a country which is the 
scene of war, has given the enemy an uninterrupted opportunity to 



85 

prepare a gigantic host, and to arrange it at leisure for the full trial 
of relative strength, when the seasons permit the resumption of 
hostilities. 

While the political leaders of the South have been reposing in 
dreams of approaching peace, and while our accomplished captains 
of engineers have been expending their remarkable scientific in- 
genuity in the erection of works as wonderful, and almost as exten- 
sive, and quite as valuable, as the Chinese Wall to resist invading 
forces from a given direction, the enemy have gra<lually and at 
leisuie gathered up their immense resources and concentrated their 
tremendous energies to envelop the Confederacy with their armies 
and fleets, and to ))enetratethe interior from some one of many alterna- 
tive points. Althouirh they can now do nothing, they have their 
general ]n'ogramme in perfect order for execution when the weather 
changes in the ordinary course of the earth roimd the sun ; and at 
this moment we find ourselves in the face of superior forces where- 
ever we look, whether to the north, the east, or the west, or the 
south itself General Sidney Johnston has to strain every nerve 
to prevent the military as well as geographical heart of the country 
fi'om slipping out of his grasp. Generals Joseph Johnston and 
Beauregard are held by McCIellan on the Potomac as in a vice. A 
gigantic armament is ready to attempt the descent of the Mississippi, 
and their fleets on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf are too freshly 
before the public attention to require remembrance. Such are the 
fruits of a policy purely defensive. Without even the hesitancy 
which woidcl come of a possible interruption, the enemy have thus 
surrounded the Southern Confederacy ; and, if permitted to repeat 
as often as may be desired, their eiforts to penetrate its heart, they will 
necessarily attain the place and the time where success awaits them. 
There is now but one chance of escape from the net that has been 
coolly drawn around us ; it is to concentrate our energy on one point 
and cut it through ; to convert our defensive into oftensive war, and 
transfer the scene of at least a part of these hostilities to the enemy's 
own coimtry. 



FEBRUARY 3, 1862. 

Red-t'ape has a mortal abhorrence of a free press. The hoy Psyche 
was not more fond of secrecy than this hoary sinner. A felonious old 
rat, comfortably ensconced within the rind of a plethoric cheese, 
does not more devoutly believe in the doctrine of laissez faire than 
the aproned Jiahitue of the Government bureau. Little children, 
building castles of cards, do not more dread the strong gust of wind 
than Red-tape dreads the animadversions of the press. For this As- 
modeus to point its fingers at him, is to unroof his closest privacy 
and secrets to the peering eyes of a world. His dislike of a free press 
amounts to a passion, which often approaches in violence to that 
morbid phobia which the canine species sometimes contract towards 
the running water, clear, innocent, and unconscious of the antipathy. 



36 

In proportion as Red-tape abhors the free press, floes he dote upon 
tbat^ portion of it, which, like himself, wears the harness of official 
service. He eagerly mounts its tripod and pours forth com amore 
his complaints against the wayward journals which wanton in 
criticisms and censures upon office-holders and peculators. 

But these complaints are lost upon the Southern ear. There are 
but t\yo regions on the earth where the press — which is the public 
voice itself— is free; and these are our own South and the old British 
land where our race was cradled. Better that we should toler- 
ate its indiscretions and bear the injuries they may bring upon our 
cause, than that we should lose the priceless jewel of free speech it- 
self Our affairs have not fallen into so narrow a strait tliat a little 
free censure of our public servants, even though, in some cases, unde- 
served, must ruin our cause. And really the world at large — at 
least that intelligent and reflecting portion of it, whose opinion 
alone is Avorthy of respect — will entertain a better opinion of our 
affiiirs than otherwise, if, seeing that our press is outspoken, that it 
is disposed and courageous enough to visit censure where censure 
is due, shall find the integrity of individuals only impeached, and 
not that of classes or masses. It argues a much sounder state of 
public feeling when a press, dependent upon popular fivor for sup- 
port, makes a virtue of exposing the rascality of knaves, than if all 
complaints were hushed in the fear of exposing concealed weakness 
and rottenness to the enemy and the outer public. 

What if these comphiints should be caught up by the enemy, ex- 
aggerated and officiously thrust under the eyes of the European 
public as proof of divisions and distrust in our community, of dis- 
cord and unfaithfulness in our pubhc administration ? Has not the 
intelligence of Europe long grown famihar with the extravagances 
of free speech in free government, and learned that the fabric of re- 
publican society may sit firmly on a foundation of rock, although 
the winds may blow ever so boisterously about its roof and towers? 

The public must have observed the vigorous eflbrt being made 
for some time to shackle the independent press of the Confederacy. 
It commenced with a few officers from the old army, now in the 
Confederate service ; and it has been seconded by officers in the 
civil Government, all, more or less debauched in their opinions by 
too long a connection with the repudiated Government at Washing- 
ton — a Government which has muzzled its press, and set the exam- 
ple its oflT-shoots among us would have us to copy. The period of 
war is above all others that in which the most dangerous abuses and 
corruptions are likely to arise in official circles. Unless a free and 
fearless press stood ready to denounce the first symptoms of delin- 
quency, and to nip the rising crop of abuses in the bud, the return 
of peace would be sure to reveal a rottenness in the public adminis- 
tration which would disgust the people with the ruin of public mo- 
rality, at the expense of which their independence had been achieved. 
Even if the revelations of the press should give some aid and comfort 
to tiie ei emy ; yet, better this than that silence siiould veil official 
knavery and corruption and hedge it with impunity. 



3Y 

All clancfer to the public liberty comes from military usnrpation, 
all danger to the public morals springs from official immunity from 
censni'e ; and official corruption is the usual incentive to military 
usurpation. Is the press, that faithful sentinel on the watch-tower 
of liberty, to be gagged and manacled at a time when all power is 
in the army and all authority in Government ? 

The most himentable self-al)negation of which the press can be 
guilty, is committed, when it undertakes to complain of the ex- 
posure of abuses and corruptions. We hold that it is at all times 
commendable and expedient to mnke this exposure ; and we can ac- 
knowledge no argument valid which would condemn the practice ; 
for the simple reason, if no other, that every plea against the 
exposure of corruption protects and extenuates the corruption it- 
self Even the heathen had a maxim " let justice be done, though 
the heavens full;" and the counterpart of it may certainly be asserted 
in this Christian age : Let knavery be rebuked, though government 
stagger under the blow. The Confederate States could much better 
afford to suffer damage from the enemy, and to forego recogni- 
tion from Europe for a while, than, by gagging her press, to give 
immunity to co'Tuption for the same length of lime. 

The objecticms to free speech now uiged are, if narrowly exam- 
ined, found to be the same that have been urged by tyrants and their 
minions through all ages. The enemies of the free press lay hold 
of excuses furnished by the war and the public peril, to put forth 
pleas which deserve from these circumstances a temporMvy plausi- 
bility ; but which, if stripped of these surroundings, their authors 
would be ashamed to adduce. No man can point out a single dis- 
aster to the Southern arms, or a single injury befalling the Southern 
cause, which is traceable to our independent press; and yet who 
will undertake to say that untold good has not resulted to the public 
service from ih;it wholesome dread of exposure with whicii the press 
has constantly inspired our whole body of the public servants. 
But are we not insulting the intelligence of the age in thus repeat- 
ing seriatim the sophistries of those who would, by means of law or 
public frowns, suppress the free utterances of the press ? 



FEBRUARY 4, 1862. 

We have a thousand proofs that the Southern people are not 
sufficiently alive to the necessity of exertion in the struggle thev 
are involved in. Our very victories have brought injury upon the 
cause by teaching us to despise the public adversary. The im- 
mense magnitude of his preparations for our subjugation has excited 
no apprehension, and had little effect in rousing us to exertion. We 
repose quietly in the lap of security when every faculty of our nature 
should be roused to action. 

The evidences of the prevailing sentiment are manifold. They 
are proved by the set of men who are elected to responsible posi- 



S3 

tions. Men of pnlliative expedients and partial measures control 
in our public councils. JMin who could not perceive the coming 
storm that is now upon us, and who continued to cry peace, peace, 
when peace had ceased to be possible, are those who receive the lar- 
gest support for controlling stations. The government is almost 
turned over already to these passive characters, who look upon con- 
fiscation as barbarous, aggression as impolitic, and vigorous war as 
a policy to be avoided because tending to incense the enemy against 
us. 

The men who descried the cloud of war when it was no larger 
than a man's hand, and who now can see no peace but as the i-esult of 
vigorous measures, and renewed and repeated victories, are relegated 
to sul)ordinate positions; and their views being a burning rebuke 
to the statesmen in position, they are laboring under the Aveight of 
im23lied censure. To win a battle by an aggressive movement is to 
incur a sort of obloquy ; and to lose a battle in a brave push upon 
the foe is to provoke a chuckle of satisfaction and the taunt, " I told 
you so !" 

Better to fight even at the risk of losing battles than remain in- 
active to fill up inglorious graves. Better that government and 
people sliould be roused to duty by defeat than that the army should 
goto sleep, tlie government doze and the people grow drowsy in the 
very jaws of destruction. To fill our public councils with men of 
passive measures, who would administer war on homoeopathic prin- 
ciples, who wor.ld whi[) the enemy by cowardice and sloth, is to para- 
lyze the government and enervate the people. They are alive to 
the dem.inds of the crisis, but if Congress snows upon them they 
gi'ow tame and crouching. 

In the midst of revolution no greater calamity can befall a peo- 
ple than for their afi"airs to pass into the control of men who could 
not understand it in the beginning, and are incapable of appreciating 
the demands of the crisis as they arise. The French, in their revo- 
lution, had an easy way of getting rid of such characters, — they chop- 
ped oli' their heails. They felt it necessary, as all subsequent opin- 
ion has acknowledged, to push their revolution through to a climax, 
at any cost ; and, though often with tears and sorrow, they guillo- 
tined the public men who leaned back against the harness. Their 
revolution succeeded, and owed its success solely to their excesses. 
They passed to the promised land through a red sea of blood. Old 
institutions, p.buses, and enormities were swept away, with every relic 
of opinion that upheld them. France became a tabula rasa, uj^on 
which a new destiny was to be written. 

All Europe moved against her more formidably than the North- 
ern hordes are beleaguering our own country; but, such was the 
fiery earnestness of her leaders and her people, that the gathering 
hosts of invasion were scattered to the four winds. At last, it must 
be confessed, that the subjugation of a nation is not to be defeated 
so much by armies and guns as by the fierce resolution of its rulers 
and i^eople. An unconquerable will, and fierce, combative jnirpose 
are more eifective than invincible arms. Does such a fiery purpose 



blaze in our Government, imparting its liot flame to the hearts of our 
people ? 

There are two things neeilful foi' the early extinction of this war. 
"We must first banish from the country every stranger in it who 
cannot give a satisfactory account of his purposes and objects here. 
This riddance of spies is a measure of importance, but comparative- 
ly of minor importance. The next thing requisite is for the whole 
community to throw themselves heart and soul into tlie war, and 
practise all the self-denial that the crisis demands. Why should the 
coimtry be tnxed with the support of the hundreds of hack teams 
employed iu Richmond, when, if each gentleman would consent to 
walk a few squares, horses enough for a dozen or two batteries, well- 
broken and Avell-conditioned, with a complement of teamsters, could 
be thus secured to the army. This is but a single instance to show 
what might be accomplished by a generous spirit of patriotic self- 
denial. What a vast system of expenditure, now exhausted upon 
mere luxuries, might be turned to advantage in the war, if the pam- 
pered classes of society would but consent to a temporary sacrifice 
of useless pleasm'cs ? He who will take the pains to run through 
the Avhole catalogue of items which could thus be turned to valu- 
able account in the war, will be astonished at the extent and value 
of latent resources which the country affords. The most etficient 
class to l)ring out the men and resources of the country in this war, 
has been its women. In the great struggles of nations, like that in 
which we are engaged, they should have queens for their rulers ; for it 
is woman alone who is proof against the persuasions of time-serv- 
ers and the sin of backsliding. There has been but one Lot's wife 
in all the tide of time. 



FEBRUARY 19, 1862. 

^ Days of adversity pi'ove the worth of men and of nations. It 
is easy to shout for success in the hour of victory, and be full of 
courage, if there is naught to fear. But when the tide of fortune 
sets strongly against the hope, and the stories of misfortune and 
disaster thicken, then the brave man is known, and the brave nation 
rouses its strength. 

We have to encounter one of those periods which tests the 
mettle of a people. If we are weak of mind and body, taint and 
cowardly of spirit, the current will presently overwhelm us; we 
shall sink under it, be subjugated by Lincoln, and ruled forevermore 
by foreigners, after having been insulted, plundered, and reduced 
to misery by Yankee generals and soldiers. We shall be conquered, 
because we deserve to be conquered, are unfit to defend our rights 
and property and liberty, and therefore unfit to have rights, possess 
property, or to lift up our heads in the presence of superior races. 

But if the inhabitants of the South have any real manhood, 
these reverses will inspire them with determination. They will cease 
to palter between the laws of peace and the measures of war. They 



40 

Will enrol their names, and compel the enrolment of all over whom 
they have any control. Tliey will silence traitors with the halter 
or the pistol ; they will force their Government and their generals to 
energy, their troops to figlit ; devote to resistance the last man, the 
last dollar, the last gun ; support defeat after defeat without mur- 
murs ; ravage their fields and burn their crops on the advance of the 
foe ; pluck victory from despair, and deserve the future prosperity 
and security with which Providence has never yet failed to reward 
a downright endeavor for independence. 

No powerful nation has ever been lost except by its cowardice. 
All nations that have fought for an independent existence have had 
to sustain terrible defeats, live through deep, though temporary, dis- 
tress, and endure hours of profound discoifragement. But no nation 
was ever subdued that really determined to fight while there was 
an inch of ground or a solitary soldier left to defend it. Have we 
not sufficient motive to make up our minds to that sort of resolu- 
tion? Have our people yet reflected on the certain condition of this 
country if the Noilh should succeed in establishing its dominion 
over us ? Confiscation, brutality, military domination, insult, uni- 
versal poverty, the beggary of millions, the triumph of the vilest 
individuals in these communities, the abasement of the honest and the 
industrious, the outlawry of the slaves, the destruction of agricul- 
ture and commerce, the emigration of all thriving citizens, farewell 
to the hopes of future wealth, the scorn of the world, the sullen 
sense of wrong and infamy — these are the consequences of subjuga- 
tion. Would we avoid them ? Would we have this a rich and great 
country, governed by our ovm men according to our own votes, with 
an open market for our produce, cheap supplies of all our wants, 
general ease prevailing, and ample fortunes arising on every side ? 
We can have these goods, we can avoid those evils — by fighting for 
them ! Let us then rise ; let us be soldiers in earnest. 

Very little fighting has been done yet. Never was there so 
much victory and defeat with such pitiful returns of killed and 
woimded. Fine words and angry words will not alter stubborn 
facts ; and Avhen we see battles in which eight men are killed, thirty 
wounded, and twenty-five hundred men are taken prisoners with 
arms in their hands, it is useless to talk of glorious resistance, for it 
is impossible to think that those who were captui-ed had fought well. 
There must be an end now of this species of fighting. All that we 
have is at stake ; every thing that makes life worth keeping is in 
jeopardy. Our soldiers and our generals must be inspired with a 
diflSerent view of their duty in action, or they will be eternally de- 
feated, coTitinually captured, and the country will be lost. 

The fighting at Fort Donelson, we are happy to believe, has been 
an exception to the general rule of our battles. So far as we know, 
the Confederate troops made a determined struggle over those hasti- 
ly-constructed and exposed works. The loss of life was great on 
both sides. The battle lasted five days, and assault after assault 
was desperately made and desperately driven back. The do-noth- 
ing policy of defence enabled the United States to organize and 



41 

precipitate on that one point its whole Western army ; and it has 
been very well understood that we contend in unequal terms with 
the enemy whenever he can approach by water. We must expect 
to bear with equanimity much heavier reverses than we have yet 
seen if we would indeed be free. Tlie game we are in is no child's 
play. We must fight our best ; we must persist in the struggle to 
the last, or consent to a fate too miserable to contemplate. We 
must go to the work with greater earnestness than we have yet shown. 
We must discard luxury and ease. We must put down incompe- 
tence ; cease to put our trust in pigmies, and listen no longer to 
pedants. 



FEBRUABY 24, 1862. 

The Inaugural Address is a well-written document, but does not 
require or invite much comment. It throws no light on the real 
condition of the country, and gives no indication of the President's 
probable policy. It might, in fact, have been omitted from the cere- 
mony, had not custom required that the President should say some- 
thing on such an occasion. 

The public expected a much more important communication 
from the President than this. It is the fervent hope of every ra- 
tional man and disinterested patriot that he will with all speed 
create a cabinet of the ablest, best informed, most experienced, and 
especially of the most active and energetic men. It is hoped that 
the President will now see the necessity of real counsel and assist- 
ance in the discharge of his difficult and overwhelming work. Men 
of strong characters, men who know the affairs of the nation at large, 
men who have the motive power of steam engines ai'e needed here 
now. Under the present regimen the so-called Secretaries are mere 
clerks. They are fit to be nothing else. They are men of business 
in their various private professions ; they may be tolerably familiar 
and adroit in the local politics of their cities and neighborhoods. 
But not one of them is a statesman of calibre equal to these times 
or any other times. They seem to have been selected with a view 
to the geographical sections of the Confederacy. Now, we cannot 
afford that species of gratification to office-seekers. The life and 
fortune of the whole country depend upon the ability of the central 
government to direct its forces to success. Nothing but intellectual 
capacitj^ general public information, patriotism, activity, and courage 
should be the tests to the selection for the cabinet, and if the great- 
est men of the country were all inhabitants of one county, that cir- 
cumstance should not weigh a feather in the choice. 

The President has hitherto been the Departments. But it is clearly 
impossible that tliis system should go on. A little Joseph in the 
house of Pharoah might have been all-sufficient for peaceful Egypt ; 
but in modern governments even the Napoleons have seen the neces- 
sity of dividing their power with tho first men they could get, and 
in a Government constituted like ours it is useless to expect that one 
4 



42 

head can suffice, for the design and execution of its complicated 
affairs. 

If any candid observer is asked for the cause of our present tide of 
misfortune, he will be compelled to give the mortifying answer : 
that the Yankees have outwitted us, that they have managed their 
power with much more judgment; and that on just the point where 
the South was supposed superior to the North ; that is to say, in the 
art of government, the Yankees have beaten us. If this great rev- 
olution should come to naught and the country be lost, it will not 
be because it was not full of money and men, because the people 
were not willing, the soldiers brave, their officers competent, their 
territory great and difficult to conquer, their slaves obedient, their 
supplies sufficient, their resources inexhaustible ; it will not be be- 
cause their cause was not just, their motives noble, their spirit 
hio-h • still less will it be because they had not luck and chance on 
their side, that Fortune did not favor them, or Providence smile 
upon their endeavors. Never was the chance of war so remai'ka- 
bly on one side as in last summer ; never did a government or gene- 
rals enjoy such opportunities to win the greatest prizes of war 
with the least trouble ; never were free people more obedient and 
docile in deportment towards their rulers ; never were politicians 
so impotent to distui'b a government ; never in any war was money 
so plentiful, bread so abundant, levies so easy. The Confederacy 
has had every thing that was required for success but one ; and that 
one thing it was and it is supposed to possess more than any thing 
else, namely, talent. But the Confederacy has not shown ability 
in conduct. We have refused fortune when it was thrust upon us, 
and permitted the magnificent armies that rushed forward last year 
to dwindle into insignificance. Yet no State refuses its quota ; 
every quota that the Government would ask of any State would be 
ordered without a murmur. No firmness has been shown towards 
the troops in hand. The War Department has snowed furloughs 
and discharges ; and when the three-months' men, the six-months' 
men, the nine-months' men, have arrived at the end of their terms, 
they have been sent home without the slightest stigma. The most 
puerile partiality has been displayed in the treatment of individual 
officers ; little lieutenants and colonels have been erected into 
major-generals without achievement or justice, and it would almost 
seem that the Government was afraid of genius and will, so sedu- 
lously has it kept at a distance individuals of lofty intellect, wide 
knowledge and enduring energy. 

Much might be said, if it were useful to do so, on this unhappy 
theme, which would be confirmed by the inner sense of every rea- 
der acquainted with actual politics. In common with all conscien- 
tious Southern men, we have long kept silence upon it, being doubt- 
ful whether good or harm would come of such discussion and if 
anything necessarily to be said in it should create acrimony, or oppo- 
sition between the Government and people it is regretable. But there 
is no longer room to doubt the propriety of saying and doing all that 
can be said and done to surround the President with the first men in 



43 

the land. We must get more talent in that Confederate Government 
or be ruined. The Naval and War Departments must be filled with 
real men,who can comprehend the state of affairs, know the resources 
and chai-acter of this country and of the adversary, who have the 
vigor to call into full action the powers and resources of the 
Southern Republic ! Unless we can get such persons to do the 
head-work of the nation our great means are as useless as the 
gold that is buried. All party hates, all personal feuds, all popular 
delusions should be kicked out of the way in the search for the 
strongest and ablest men. If any thing will turn the tide that has 
lately set in, it will be the advent of intellectual superiority to the 
control of the departments. How of\en does history show nations 
redeemed from the- most difficult positions by the appearance of a 
few sufficient leaders, who have changed in a few weeks the relations 
of contending forces ? 



FEBRUARY 2 6, 18 6 2. 

What we have a claim to expect and demand from the President 
is this, that his measures and orders shall be prompt, full, stern, and 
more than equal to the dangers we have to meet. The patriotism 
of the people is very re-al ; but popular feeling never was to be 
counted on at the pinch of pain. The undisciplined multitude, with 
the women, the children, the rich and comfortable persons, always 
shrink and cry when the trial comes. Then it is that the Govern- 
ment, into whose hands the people, when in their right minds, have 
intrusted all their power, should use it like a bar of iron. No 
country or city was ever defended in any other way. We talk of Sara- 
gossa, but Saragossa woixld have been a Nashville but for its Junta, 
its half dozen rulers who made no more of the lives of friends or 
foe than of rain drops. The Government, not the people, must 
order the things that are to be done, and see that they are done at 
whatever cost. To burn the cotton and tobacco, wherever the 
enemy comes, is of self-evident propriety. But who can expect 
the owners to do it on any large or efiectual scale ? Though they 
know from past experience that the Yankees will take every shred 
that they find they will no more consent to burn it than the dying 
miser to give away his gold. The Government must do all these 
things by military order, and without consulting anybody. The 
President is looked to for the call to arms, to order the mounting 
of batteries, the blockading of channels and the enforcement of 
necessary though disagreeable laws. To the dogs with Constitu- 
tional questions and moderation ! What we want is an effectual 
resistance. 



MARCH 6, 1862. 

The new office now proposed in Congress appears to be dictated 
by the actual wants of the service. A Secretary of War is found 



44 

insufficient for all the duties of the Department at the present 
period. But there are secretaries, and secretai'ies. Twenty secre- 
taries of one kind would not suffice for the little army of San 
Maiino ; but one Louvois, one Carnot, one Chatham, has been found 
all that was necessary for some of the greatest complication of 
military affairs that this world has seen. 

At present it may be found advisable to separate the duties of 
the War Department, and confide a portion of them to a general 
competent to understand and direct the campaign at large. But 
if any good is to come out of the new office, it must be filled by 
an able, and especially by an energetic man, who will make war in 
a style different from that which has hitherto characterized the 
operations of the Southern Confederacy. All will depend on the 
choice of the man. If the commanding general is only another 
minnow in the pond, another dummy, a respectable bubble, an echo, 
an amiable courtier, the position of the country will not be altered 
by the creation of a new office, the employment of a new set of 
clerks, and the verbiage of a new set of official documents. 

What the Confederate Government needs is not more officers, but 
more brains. Whether brains come to it under the label of a Com- 
manding-General, a reorganized Cabinet, or simply a new Secretary 
of Wai", does not matter at all. The foresight that perceives, but is 
not appalled by coming misfortunes, the hard sense, the vigorous 
command, the courage that flames up from defeat and rebounds un- 
hurt from disaster, the manly confidence in others, the strength of 
body as well as of mind, which supports and renews them all, — 
these are the qualities that are necessary to the leaders of a cause 
like ours, in dangers like those that press hard upon us. The men, 
or man, who possesses them is the fit companion, counsellor, and 
agent of the President now ; and whether he is called commanding- 
general, or something else, will not matter. 



MARCH 6, 1862. 

We must become the arbiters of our national fortunes. If the 
same common-place line of policy which has governed our actions 
for the past year is continued, this war will be a long one — long as 
the famous Peloponnesian. Yet this even should not discourage us. 
Jehovah kept Moses and the people of His love wandering forty 
years in the desert ere He gave them a country and independence. 
We should be prepared for trials and privations equally great, rath- 
er than become a people of political Helots — compelled to bend be- 
fore, and obey the behests of, Yankee mongrels. 



MARCH 20. 1862, 



The Cabinet which we announced yesterday has been confirmed 
by the Senate. Mr. Davis has sacrificed to popular clamor without 



45 

yieldincc to public opinion. He has made so small a change, that 
Mr. Toots would say it is of "no consequence." All of the old 
members Avere retained, excei)t those who wanted to get out of it. 
Benjamin is transferred, and Mallory left in statu quo. The repre- 
sentation of the Synagogue is not diminished ; it remains full. The 
administration has now "an opportunity of making some reputation; 
for, nothing being expected, of it, of course every success will be a 
clear gain. 

There have been three successful Presidents on this continent — 
George Washington, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson. The 
explanation of this success is found in the fact that neither of them 
was jealous of intellect that had already been marked by the pul>lic 
judgment. Public opinion is rarely in error as to the abilities of the 
public man in active management of public affairs, and he who en- 
deavors to find great men Avithout reputations will stumlile and fail 
in all great undertakings. James Monroe was, in all the more 
dazzling mental attributes, inferior to most of the Presidents. But 
he had the judgment to follow public opinion in his estimate of 
men, and to surround himself with those Avhom public opinion had 
indicated as able men. This Avas the cause of his success. He 
never attempted to know more of the intellect of the country than 
the country knew. He never sought to play the political virtuoso, 
storing away in his cabinet articles of value to him only, because no 
one else could be induced to think them valuable. The Cabinet of 
George Washington, James Monroe, and AndrcAV Jackson embraced 
the largest reputation of their day, and therefore, contained the 
largest amount of intellect. 



MARCH 29, 1862. 

A NATiOKAL coat of arms, like a national flag, is not, as some sup- 
pose, a superfluous ornament. One is a necessary of Avar, the other 
of civil relations, both Avith foreign governments and our own 
people. Every nation noAV in the world, or recorded in history, has 
been known by an emblem or significant device. The armorial m- 
signia of the tribes of Israel are clearly given in the oldest of books: 
the asp of Egypt, the royal archer of Persia, the horse of Carthage, 
the OAvl of Athens, the eagle of Rome, the dragon of China, served 
their purpose tAvo thousand years before the earliest inventions of 
modern heraldry; and the universal ftict abundantly proves the 
actual utility and imperative need of a fixed national type or signal 
for many of' the most ordinary acts of every organized government. 

The Southern Confederacy will find itself compelled to choose an 
emblem and arrange it in the heraldic form noAV common to other 
nations. It is important that an object Avhich must appear on many 
solemn occasions, and around Avhich Avill cluster the dearest associa- 
tions of patriotism, should be creditable to the country and fitting 
to its purposes. If such a choice could be well executed at once, it 
would be a convenience to the Government and a pleasure to the 



40 

people. In a country where the heraldic science is g^enerally under- 
stood by educated men, and where there are able professors of the 
art in every large city, the work of that Congressional Committee 
on Fhag and Seal, which so often reappears in the reports, could be 
done in a morning. But this is not the case in any part of North 
America. Few, very few persons here, have any other than the 
most vague ideas on the laws and spirit of blazonry ; and even 
those few have learned their smattering knowledge from the 
books of English heraldry, Avhich is the worst in taste, the most 
complicated and ignoble, as it is also the least esteemed in the 
civilized world. Hence, the coats of arms adopted by the States of 
the late Union are nearly all bad, and, from their artificial and com- 
plicated character, have entirely failed to attract popular aftection. 
Indeed the figures on their various seals scarcely deserve the name 
of blazon. Not only are they destitute of heraldic arrangement, 
but instead of the figures of heraldry, which are arbitrary types, 
not intended to be representations of real things, but having a 
beauty peculiar to themselves, they have delineated a number of 
familiar objects entirely unsuitable to that science, which might 
look well in a painting, if executed by the hand of a great artist, 
but which make a poor and paltry show in the form of a coat of arms. 
Some have an allegory on their shield, others, a landscape ; some have 
fancy pictures relating to some story or theory. Hence they are 
condemned alike by the taste of those who have studied such sub- 
jects, and by the indifference of the multitude, who are oblivious 
of what makes no single and easily recollected image on the 
memory. 

Yet the Eagle of the Union has made a deep and powerful im- 
pression on our people, as the Bears of Berne, the Lion of England, 
on the inhabitants of those countries ; for that device was well 
chosen, probably by those who had taken the pains to get good 
information on the matter intrusted to them, or who perhaps em- 
ployed the assistance of some professional hand. 

Considering the numberless failures already made by American 
States in their ignorant and premature attempts to devise proper 
insignia, it is hoped that the Congressional Committee will not be 
in too great a hurry to fix another abortion on iis. Especially is it 
desirable that they should make the plan which they think most 
appropriate known to the public before it is established by law. 
The fate of the flag invented at Montgomery should be a warning 
to them against secresy and haste. 

Public taste cannot be compelled, and the flag has been found so 
objectionable to it, and is opposed by so many solid arguments, 
that it has become necessary to change it. It would be unfortunate 
if the Congress should ado}5t a coat of arms with a like result ; and 
the only means of avoiding such mishaps is to subject its project 
to general examination before it is finally decided on. 

The scheme said to be at present most in favor with the com- 
mittee, is a shield bearing representations of cotton, corn, tobacco 
and wheat, would better serve for the vignette of a counterfeit note 



47 

on a rural bank than the escutcheon of a nation. Witliout entering 
into technicalities, we may remind its inventor that there are certain 
plain principles of common sense, as well as heraldry, against which 
it offends: — 1st. That simplicity and unity are the tirst requisites 
of a device that is intended to impress itself on the eye of a multi- 
tude ; and that one figure on a shield is better than several. 2d. 
That the national device is part of a coat of arms\ its signification 
should be warlike, and should express the power and courage, some 
capacity for offence or defence of a nation, rather than any other 
class of ideas, 3d. That the objects chosen should be. such as can 
be easily and clearly represented in the style or mannerism usual in 
blazonry, without which only can armorial insignia be long tolerable 
to the eye and taste. The vegetables which are proposed for the 
shield of the Southern Confederacy are undoubtedly valuable; so 
are carrots and turnips; but they are not the figures likely to recur 
in imagination excited by patriotism, nor to be associated with the 
dignity of the country or its power of defence or punishment. 



APRIL 4, 1862. 

If King Cotton has lost his sceptre for a time, it has been from 
the incapacity of his ministers. The fact of the loss is admitted 
even by Mr. Yancey, one of his staunchest subjects ; and that 
gentleman, if repoi't be true, does not hesitate to ascribe it to the 
cause we have indicated. This opinion of Mr. Yancey is not merely 
shared by the border States, but by the States of the Gulf His 
case presents another melancholy instance of a great prospect blasted 
by imbecility. 

The fortunes of the cotton dynasty depended upon bold action 
and great and energetic measures. Its policy should have been a 
continual assertion of power and majesty, not a continual deprecia- 
tion of war, a perpetual protestation for peace, a constant appeal to 
Providence, or the European Hercules, for help. There was nothing 
within the range of public action too great for its energy and enter- 
prise to compass ; but whether this was so or not, its ministers should 
never have confessed to have " undertaken more than they could 
perform." 

King Cotton began his reign under many auspices. He had been 
furnished with a hundred and fifty thousand stands of arms, which 
belonged to him of right, but of which he had been Avrongly kept 
out of possession for fifty years. While the ports were open he 
should have added a hundred and fifty thousand more, which twice 
he did not do. 

Since the first day of last May there have existed in the Con- 
federacy seven hundred and fifty thousand men, between the ages of 
eighteen and thirty-five, who, by the operation of conscription, could 
have been embodied and drilled in an invincible army, competent, 
not only to oppose invasion at every point of our frontier, and to 



48 

preserve the sanctity of every foot of our soil, but to conquer peace 
m the dominions of the enemy. Instead of this force being at once 
called into requisition, in accordance with the advice of men of 
brains and forecast, the wretched shift of twelve months' Aolunteers 
and raw militia was preferred, in the vain delusion that European 
interference was certain and peace was near at hand. It is only 
now that the measures that should have been adopted ten months 
ago is put into requisition. 

There are two requisites to a great Government in a crisis like 
this in which ours is involved. The men who administer it must 
have a thorough knowledge of the means and resources of the coun- 
try for offence and defence ; which, in our case, are ample and un- 
bounded ; and, knowing these i-esources, they must have the ca- 
pacity to call them forth and employ them. The misfortune of our 
Government has been that it has been both ignorant of the great 
resources of our country, and incapable of managing and employ- 
ing even those of which it knew. 



APRIL 8, 1862. 

A VICTORY on a large scale, and with results more splendid than 
that which made the plains of Manassas forever famous, has crowned 
our hopes on the highlands of Mississippi. Although no Washington 
is within a day's march of Shiloh, to remain imcaptured, and though 
Fortune gives no second opportunity of striking such a blow as we 
could then have struck to pass unimproved, yet the prizes of the 
victory now won, though less dramatic than what those of Manassas 
might have been, are not less valuable. 

These prizes are not the prisoners taken, though they are many; 
nor the cannon captured, though their number is unusual ; nor the 
stores, nor the wagons, nor even the territory which may be recov- 
ered, if the victory is improA-ed with half the celerity and enterprise 
which may now be expected. The great results of this battle are its 
moral effects on the Southern Confederacy, the United States, and 
the European continent. 

It lifts the South from dejection not the less deep and painful be- 
cause covered Avith silent fortitude. It will dispel from the popular 
mind of the United States the hallucinations of arrogance Avhich 
have sustained the unparalleled exactions of their leaders. It will 
give neAV light to the undecided cabinets and vacillating public 
sentiment of Europe. 

General Beauregard has given to his victory a sounding and tri- 
umphant name. The event is forever associated with the grand 
title selected, and will, also, be eternally connected Avith his OAvn name. 
What part his conduct may have had in the result, cannot now be 
justly said. But popular feeling, right or wrong, Avill hereafter think 
him and luck synonymous. Many competent persons, while admit- 
ting his talents and acquirements as an engineer, deny that he pos- 
sesses the qualities of a field officer, and declare that he has not 



49 

evinced tlie capaeity for strategy. But it will, at least, 1)c hereafler 
admitted that hv possesses the one thing for which the groat tSylla 
felt the most satisfaction. That man of genius made no account of 
the praises he received for his skill, his valor, his combinations, and 
his power — but was deeply pleased when the public voice styled 
him Sylla the Foktunate. 



APRIL 15,1862. 

It is feared that those worthy persons who liave packed up their 
spoons and prepared their souls for the storm, sack, and contiagra- 
tion of Richmond, as foretold by McClellan, and who attend that 
unpleasant event like the folloAvers of Father Miller, when they 
dressed in their grave-clothes and ascended the tops of their houses 
in readiness for Gabriel and his trumpet at the predicted minute, will 
have to provide themselves with a considerable stock of patience. 
For every day increases the probability of the report that McClellan 
has betaken himself to the spade. With a hundred and tM^enty 
thousand men under his hand, he proppses to attack Magruder's for- 
tifications by " regular approaches." /As the Confederate generals 
never attack anybody, it is presumed that he will be met Avith reg- 
ular defences. In that case there will be a grand display of engi- 
neering science in strict accordance Avith the school-books of the 
military academy, concluding with a masterly retreat, or evacuation, 
by one party or the other, — all of Avhich Avill take time — a great 
deal of time — so tliat immediate fears for Richmond may be post- 
poned, if not abandoned. 

The war has now lasted a year. TavcIvc months ago the GoA'ern- 
ment at Montgomery had ordered eight thousand rifles as about the 
proper estimate for the army that it believed adequate to the crisis. 
Twelve months ago, in the fine weather of another breezy April, Fort 
Sumter fell, after a most tremendous and most bloodless bombard- 
ment. Lincoln thundered out a call for scA^enty-five thousand a'oI- 
unteers to squelch the Confederacy ; and Davis ansAvered with a de- 
mand for one hundred and fifty thousand men to meet them. Such 
large armies Avere yet unknown to Americans. Both proclamations 
were regarded by most people as mere brutnm fidme?i, and fcAV be- 
lieved that half those numbers of troops AVOi;ld CA'er come to the field, 
or that either GoA'ernment could maintain them for six months. Yet 
they came, and many more after them ; and the war has not only 
lasted its year, but, in the hands of West Point, promises to last an- 
other, and another. 

Unless a great change in the manner of conducting civil and mil- 
itary affairs takes place in the Confederacy, not only may the war 
last scA'en years, but all AA'ho read these lines may die a natural death 
and be buried by their children without seeing that degree of laAV 
and order restored to this country in which they grew up. Indeed, 
nothing will ever bring peace and security to any part of this land 
but the extinction of the dynasty of ignorant and imbecile politicians 



50 

who have long monopolized place and power here. When misfor- 
tune and suffering have forced the people of the South to think seri- 
ously and act earnestly, they will rid themselves of the whole 
Washington school of politics and inaugurate a new system of pub- 
lic measures. 



APRIL 21,1862. ~' 

Victory on the peninsula would give us time to reorganize our 
defences on water, and to create an army large enough to set the 
North at defiance. With the creation of a new army might come a 
change of our plan of campaign. The profound strategy of the back 
track, of withdrawing everywhere, fighting nowhere, suspending 
fighting generals, and promoting non-combatant generals to supreme 
control, might then be changed. The enthusiasm which originally 
burned in the breasts of soldiers would then be rekindled, and the 
country Avould not have to mourn any more the loss of commanding 
officers from indiscreet exposure in urging their troops into action. 
A spark of enthusiasm is worth more than a dozen cartridges ; and 
it is useless for Government to waste its money on powder and ball 
if it pursues a policy to chill the spirit of the soldier. 

It is impossible to overestimate the crisis on the peninsula. It 
has ever been the habit of great generals to expose all the dangers 
and all the advantages of defeat or victory to their troops on the 
eve of great battles. It is the timid policy of our own day to con- 
ceal the significance of contemplated engagements from the troops 
and the country. The country should know the full extent of its 
reverses as well as of its success. The spirit of the people will rise 
with the occasion. This land is not inhabited by the effeminate fol- 
lowers of a court. Our race can look fate in the face, and will prove 
equal to every danger that it is allowed to understand. With a pa- 
triotic people, candor is the most judicious, safest, and wisest course. 



APRIL 21, 1862. 

The dispersion of Congress to-day cannot be regarded otherwise 
than as a most untoward event. It is an odious example to all 
classes. It is done by the votes of the Senators of those very States 
which have been loudest in their professions of patriotism and valor. 
Many of them now think Richmond insecure, talk about the proba- 
bility of evacuating Virginia ("tempoi-arily ") incase of a defeat, 
and wish to be safe on their cotton plantations when that event 
takes place. They exhibit in this way of thinking a very narrow 
vision, a most imperfect idea of what is passing here, and are com- 
pletely in error as to the future that lies before them. 

The loss of Virginia is a thought which sliould not be admitted 
into the head of any person of authority in the Confederate States. 



If the Confederacy loses Viro^inia it loses the backbone and right 
arm of tlie war. If they indulge the pleasing speculation that the 
Yankees will be content to make peace with the original Southern 
Confederacy when they have been appeased with a sacrifice of Vir- 
ginia, they trust to a delusion, and are caught in a snare by which 
goslings would not be entrapped. 

Possession of the Border States is only a means to the end of the 
Northern horde. If we were the only South, they would never [)ut 
foi"th the gigantic effort they are making. . They wouM be well con- 
tent to let us go. It is the cotton of the Gulf that they want and 
must have. If they can conquer Virginia, the destruction of that 
strong bulwark will only fill them with hope and confidence ; and 
the decisive battles will be fought a few weeks later on the ])lanta- 
tions of the fugitives, with what difference of chances let reflection 
say. 

To leave Richmond at the very moment of the hazard is not the 
way to encourage the army or help a cause in peril. Far wiser, and, 
indeed, more prudent, too, would be the noble and more cour- 
ageous course of remauiing in the capital till it is certain that it can 
no longer be defended. It will be time enough to go when it is no 
longer possible to stay, and at least the disgrace will be avoided of 
premeditated flight. 

APRIL 28, 1862. 

The fall of New Orleans will swell the Yankee heart with a cer- 
tainty of triumph too big for uttenince. Now, indeed, they believe 
the revolution near its close, and expect the collapse of the Confed- 
eracy and the prostration of the South. 

It will be some time before either party will know the causes, or 
rightly appreciate the consequences of this event ; but it is certain 
that those who suppose the courage of the Southern people and 
armies will sink into despair under the blow, are doomed to disap- 
pointment. So far from insuring our subjugation, it concentrates 
our energies in a more limited circle and the Confederacy is now 
capable of a more dangerous and tremendous exertion than before. 
All that is needed to turn it into an advantage is a change in the 
spirit and counsels which direct at Richmond the employment of 
power. But little is yet known of the fall of New Orleans, except 
that when the British were cut to pieces before that city, Jackson 
was there; and when it fell, without resistance, before the Northern 
gun-boats, the commander was not Jackson. It would appear that 
no defence was attempted except the cannonade from the forts ; yet 
what a remiuisceuce is suggested with the name of Chalmette ! 



MA T ], 1862. 

In the vain hope of leplenishing their Treasury the Yankee Con- 
gress are sorely exercising their ingenuity upon the subject of con- 



52 

fiscation. They are endeavoring to find some legal means of accom- 
plishing a general condemnation of the property of the South, and 
liquidating their debt from the proceeds of its sale. They are en- 
gaged in this fruitless attempt to relieve themselves from the odium 
that must befall the authors of the war among their own taxpayers. 
There are two modes of confiscation which they have before them 
under discussion, namely, by military seizure and legal process. 

The difficulty of the military method consists in the impossibility 
of holding all parts of the South with a military force. It is simply 
impossible for the North to occupy the South throughout with a 
force strong enough to carry out so brutal and high-handed a ])olicy. 
It might, in detached localities, succeed in enforcing its measures; 
but it would require a standing array of a million of men to enforce 
it throughout the country, and that number of men, and even less, 
would cost moi'e than the value of the confiscations many times over. 

Turn the subject over in anyway, there is little prospect of reve- 
nue for the Federal treasury from confiscations even in the impossi- 
ble event of conquest. If the United States should by any chance 
or mischance, succeed in subduing the Southern States and bringing 
them again into the Union, their true financial policy would be the 
proclamation of a general amnesty, the restoration, if possible, of 
fraternal feeling, and the imposition only of such taxes on the refrac- 
tory section as they impose on the other. Even if the policy of 
robbery and wholesale confiscation could be carried into effect, it 
would be no other than a repetition of the folly of the clown who 
ripped open the goose for the golden egg. On the whole, it is plain 
that in no form or sliape will the South, by any possibility, ever con- 
tribute, either willingly or unwillingly, to the liquidation of the 
Yankee war debt. 



MA Y 1, 1862. 

It cannot be denied that the position of the Confederacy is any- 
tTiing rather than desirable. Indeed, if any countrj'^ ever had a 
gloomy day, it is ours now. How the great opportunities of the 
past have been improved, how the immense power of the South has 
been frittered and squandered away, and whither a persistence in 
the policy and principles which have brought misfortune on us will 
eventually lead, are the thoughts that recur frequejitly to every 
mind. If any good could be done by showing the origin of these 
evils, and demonstrating the certain source of these calamities, the 
task would be easy. But it would be useless in every sense. 
Opinion is unanimous upon the character and conduct of the Gov- 
ernment. Except the hatigers-on of the Departments, and other 
holders or expectants of place and personal benefit, there is not one 
person of a sane mind in the Confederacy that approves the one or 
justifies the other. All think alike on these jx)ints, and it is, there- 
fore, useless to argue them ; nor is there any hope that an expres- 
ejon of the public voice will have the least etfect for good. 



53 

On the conduct of the Governmont we cease to have any hopeful 
calculation. It has lost tlie popular confidence and heart, never to 
regain them. But it does not follow that the cause is lost or that 
the Southern Confederacy will not triumph in this war. The force 
of circuinstanci'S has compelled the concentration and consolidation 
of our armies ; great battles, some of them at least beyond the 
enemy's vessels, will now be fought; and in these there is rational 
ground to think that the superior energy and courage of the South- 
ern soldiery will inevitably tell. 



MA Y 16, 1862, 

Virginia is not dead yet! The ancient spirit is still in tlie land. 
If the steady valor displayed by that great army she has given to 
the cause of liberty did not sufficiently prove the truth, the action of 
her legislature would be sufficient to put some backbone into the 
feeblest nation and the weakest government. 

It is encouraging that the legislature has found its communication 
with the President, on the subject of the def^nice of Richmond, sat- 
isfactory. It is to be hoped that when the President speaks of twenty 
years' combat on Virginia soil, he does not omit to calculate the 
demoralizing efiect if Richmond should f dl. It would be very great. 
If he listens to the voice of Virginia, her authorities, and the true 
people of Richmond, he will never permit this city to be taken, or 
leave it while one brick remains on another. 

When we speak of the people of Richmond, however, we do not 
include the Rats. We do not mclude the contemptil)le sneaks who 
care more about their ornamental dwellings and fashionable churches, 
and their own rickety carcasses, than for the independence, the 
destiny, the existence of the Confederacy, Some of these whitened 
sepulchi-es, who were, too, early preachers of secession, are now 
palavering the legislature about women and children, and bed-ridden 
persons, and wili, no doubt, manipulate the Government into imbe- 
cility if they can. But let all persons in authority be warned in 
time. The counsels of these reptiles in broadcloth are the counsels 
of cowardice ; they are liai's and hypocrites in their words as in 
their lives. If the Confederacy hopes to exist, it must fight for 
Richmond, — fight over it, too, if necessary. Its possession would 
give renewed energy to the whole North; after this possession, 
nothing would be sufficient to discourage the United States Govern- 
ment and its armies. Its evacuation and loss would be a mortal 
wound to the Southern cause. If the authorities have not the energy, 
decision, firranes^and resource to keep their grip on Richmond, then 
may God help the South ! 



MA F 1 9 , 1 8 6 2 . 

The President proclaimed last Friday to be aday of official prayer 
and religious ceremony, and it was so observed. The Departments 



54 

were closed, nncl the necessary work of this tryhi^c period was brought 
to a stand-still for twenty-four houi-s. Never has any one year seen 
?!o many of these affairs. It is hoped that the latest is the last. 
The country has had quite endugh of them. Religion is the senti- 
rnent of individuals, not a matter of military order or formal injunc- 
tion ; and though it is well that a government should pay proper 
respect to the religious ceremony, that has been done, and over- 
done by the Confederacy. In truth, these devotional proclamations 
of Mr. Davis have lost all good effect from tiieir repetition, are re- 
garded by the people as either cant or evidences mental weakness, and 
have become the topic of unpleasant reflection with intelligent men. 
Piety is estimable, but energy, common sense, impartial justice, cour- 
age, and industry are also qualities very useful to rulers and to nntions. 
It is to the diligent employment of the faculties God has given us 
that we obtain His blessing, and not by vain and affected suppli- 
cations. When we find the President standing in a corner telling 
his beads, Jind relying on a miracle to save the country, instead of 
mounting his horse and putting forth every power of the Govern- 
ment to defeat the enemy, the effect is depressing k\ the extreme. 
When the ship sj^^'higs a leak, the efficient cajitain does not order 
all hands to prayers, but to the pumps. The same newspapers that 
are burdened with the news of the evacuation of Noi'folk announce 
that President Davis has just been " confirmed '' in the Episcopal 
Church. Perhaps the authority of an eminent divine in that church 
may have weight with him. His name was MuhJenburg, and one 
Sunday, in 1774, he closed his last sermon with the words, that there 
was "« time for all things ; a time to fight and that time had now 
come." Having pronounced a benediction, he deliberately i^ulled 
off his gown and ajjpeared before his astonished congregation in 
Complete uniform. Then, descending the pulpit, he ordered the 
drums at the church door to beat for recruits. His regiment was 
the fiist organized for the Continental service ; and both his example 
and his doctrine, that "there is a time for all things," may be M'ell 
recommended to the consideration of all considerate persons. 



MA Y 2 1, 18 6 2. 

The atrocious'order issued by the Federal General Butler <at New 
Orleans is characteristic and worthy of that proven coward. He who 
turned white and trembled all over at the Charleston Convention 
before the menaces of personal chastisement, which his roguery 
provoked from a gentlemen in this State, is brave as Nero, or a 
eunuch ruling the seraglio of a Turk, to the women of Louisiana. 
The General issues an order to this effect. That the Federal troops 
having in vain offered their compliments to the ladies of New Orleans, 
and having been " rudely " treated by them, the commanding gen- 
eral declaies that in future, should any Southern woman express 
her aversion to Yankee ^Idiers or treat them " rudely," she shall 



55 

be considered by authority as a -wench of the town, nnrl treated 
accordingly by the troops. 

Butler has improved upon the Austrian generals. None but a 
coward of his stamp and race could have imagined or issued such 
an order, none ever have sunk into equal libidinous filtliiness and 
depravity. ]>ut let us. not reproach Butler. Let us wait to see the 
consequences of his order before we blame him. We have now to 
learn whether Southern men love any thing better than whole stins 
and ignominious lives; for if any thing will arm the hand of the male 
population of New Orleans, it will be this order and the first attempt 
to execute it. Then will come the end of the practice of tame sub- 
mission to military occupation. Up to the present time, all resist- 
ance and trouble has ceased with the entrance of Yankee troo])S into 
Confederate towns and territories. They have taken what they 
pleased and done what they pleased ; the people have done nothino-. 
Declaring themselves unarmed and unable to figlit any loncrer, they 
have folded their arms and submitted to fate ; consoling their pride 
with looks of defiance and the tongues of the women. But thev 
are soon to find that all cannot be so ended. The invader will 
shortly render death more tolerable than life. They submit to save 
their families ; their families will not be saved bj^ submission, and 
then they will rise, one by one, content to die it they can send a 
single Yankee devil back to hell before they quit the world themselves. 



JUNE 10, 1862. 

The Northern journals, from which the military news was ves- 
terday extracted into this paper, call on us to explain what they'are 
delighted to believe and call "Jackson's retreat." Old Stonewall 
has himself already given them an explanation, which is clear, if not 
altogether satisfactory. " The toils are skilfully laid," exclaims the 
Northern speftator of the chase after Jackson. It appears to have 
been quite time ; the "toils" were so skilfully laid that they have 
actually canght him. Fremont caught Ewell, and Shields caught 
Jackson, with what results the ptiblic is this morning inforn^ed. 

A wild boar taken in a net arranged for capturing quails; a lion 
started in the brush that Avas beaten for a deer, prol)ably would act 
upon the fowler, as Ev\'ell and Jackson on Fremont and Shields. 
But with regard to Jackson's retreats, we will lend our Yankee con- 
temporaries a word of light. 

In countries where cock-fighting is considered a civilized amuse- 
ment, there is a well-known species of the game chicken, known by 
a Spanish name, which signifies the icheeler. He is much j^rized, 
because he scarcely ever fails to kill an ordinary adversary. When 
he is put down for battle, and has exchanged a blow or two, he 
seems to fly, and the inexperienced spectator regards him as craven. 
So, too, does the other cock, which rushes after, fluttering with pride 
and confidence. But suddenly, with the -rapidity of a bomb- shell. 



56 

he wheels — there is a crashinp: collision — and the pursuing cock drops 
dead with a spur in liis brain-pan. 

Jackson, at the head of his small force, has often retreated — his 
opponents say fled — yet his retreats, unlike tliose of other generals, 
have never affected the estimation placed on him by his own troops 
or the country ; for the people and soldiers instinctively perceived 
the militnry truth. Jackson never ninde a real retrcnt or evacuation 
— his retrograde movements are only his style of fight ; he is, in 
fact, a icheekr^ the most dangerous of antagonists in the cock-pit or 
in the field. 

On the power of Jackson's army to inflict a vital wound upon the 
body of the enemy, and render necessary a recall of their forces for 
the defence of tludr own territory, are staked the best hopes of Rich- 
mond and the Confederacy. As for this city, if its fate depi-nds on 
a game in whicli ^'spades are trumps,^'' played by two eminent hands 
of the old army, each knowing every thing that the other knows, 
there is no doubt but that the Confederate Government will, sooner 
or later, be spaded out of Richmond. 



SEPTEMBER 2, 1862. 

Retat.iatiox is the principle at the foundation of criminal law'. 
No other effectual means has yet been discovered by human experi- 
ence or intelligence, to ])revent th(! atrocities of the cruel and vile. 
In peaceful times and organized societies, it is possible to envelop 
this principle in modes of procedure which will direct its effect 
upon the head of the guilty individual alone. In wars between 
nations, retaliation is still the only means known in the history of 
human transactions, as sufficient to compel a cruel and a bad nation 
to conform its conduct of war to the laws and usages of Christian 
civilization. 

The United States are conducting this war in a style which can 
only be characterized as diabolical. The Government of the Con- 
federate States seems to have fully recognized this trutli, if we may 
judge from the declarations repeatedly made by the President in 
his State papers. But, while it has promised, preached, denounced, 
and vapored, we are yet to hear of one single practical act of that 
nature on the part of the Confedei'ate aixthorities, military or civil. 

What will people say? What will the civilized world think of 
us? Why shouldn't we be thought better than the Yankees? Why 
should not we be reckoned chivalrous knights, while they are bloody 
barbarians? These and the like puerile conceits constitute the key 
to much of our conduct in this war. The Confederate Government 
has been attitudinizing throughout. The President's State papers 
are all pitched in that key. Every line of them suggests self-con- 
. scious vanity. Plow do I look in this i)osition ? How <loes this 
sound ? Does not this surpass the Pater Patrice f These are 
thouo-hts which seem to be present iu the composition of those doc- 



57 

uments. Vanity, an<l not humanity, prevents an immediate resort, 
in this country, to retaliation of the sternest and most decisive species. 
Our case demands, and our common sense commands it. We have 
only to wait awhile lonjrer, and the individual sufferings of those 
who nre now amusing themselves with a parade of lofty chivalry 
will cause them many an hour of bitter repentance for their childish 
folly. 



SEPTEMBER 6, 1862. 

A PAiiSTFUL rumor throws a gloom over the spirit of the Southern 
public in the hour of victory. It is feared that General Pope has 
been mortally wounded. We sincerely hope that this disastrous 
report is destitute of the least foundation in truth ; indeed, it is so 
improbable that this noble friend of the South should have got within 
the reach of a bullet, we may still flatter ourselves that his servicee 
will long be enjoyed by the Southern Confederacy. It is our earnest 
prayer that God may protect that precious life ; that he may pre- 
serve his head, his heels, his tongue, his hand, and all the members 
of that valuable body, from bullets, steel, and rope. 

Among the officers of the late United States Army, an acquaint- 
ance existed which enabled them to gauge the characters of each 
other with great accuracy ; and when the news arrived that the 
Yankees were about to pull down McClellan and set up Pope, there 
is not one of those officers now serving in the Confederate armies, 
who did not ejaculate a fervent prayer that the hosts of the enemy 
might soon be under the command of Pope. Lincoln's estimate of 
Pope, it is said, is " great brains, great in(iolence, and great unve- 
racity ;" but an associate in the old army has characterized him 
more simply as " the biggest fool, the most arrant coward, and the 
biggest liar that ever disgraced epaulets." 

Pope is a Yankee compound of Bobadil and Munchausen. He 
won his baton of marshal by bragging to the Yankee fill. On what 
monstrous principles he commenced it, and what orders he issued, 
are still fresh in the public memory. 

" I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases," said 
Pope to his army, "which I am sorry to find much in vogue among 
you. I hear constantly of taking strong positions and holding 
them; of lines of retreat and bases of sup|>lies. Let us discard such 
ideas. The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is 
the one fiom which he can most easily advance upon the enemy. 
Let us study the probable line of retreat of our opponents, and leave 
our own to take care of itself Let us look before, and not behind. 
Disaster and shame lurk in the rear." 

With such notes as these, commenced the shortest and most dis- 
astrous campaign to be found in history. Never did a cock that 
crowed so loud lose his comb so quickly. No event has been more 
auspicious for the South than the accession of Pope to the com- 
mand of the Yankee armies, and there is scarcely any loss which we 
5 



58 

could support with greater difficulty than that which his death would 
occasion. Let us trust that the Goddess of Cowai-dice enveloped 
him in a cloud, like one of Homer's heroes, and bore him to a place 
of safety, so far ahead of his flyinor followers, that he has been re- 
ported dead, only because he has not yet been overtaken. 



SEPTEMBER 11, 1862. 

The principle now in contest between North and South is simply 
that of State sovereignty. The war has embraced some of the 
features and elements common to all wars, and is, for the time 
being, a trial of physical strength ; but the original, fundamental 
principle in dispute is the right of a State to resist the power of the 
Federal Government, in attempting to coerce it to submission to 
unconstitutional measures. 

It has become fashionable to ignore States Rights. These valuable 
attributes of our Soutliern commonwealths are habitually whistled 
down the wind by sanctum inen. The plea of public necessity is 
held to justify every usurpation, and officers of government, solemnly 
sworn to respect and observe the Constitution, are amongst those 
most glib in urging this sorry plea of expediency in justification of 
acts which, on their part, are no less than acts of perjury and fratri- 
cide. 

It will not do for the Confederacy to lose sight of the principle 
of free government, for which it is now contending. We are not 
struggling to establish a national republic ; but we are defending the 
right of independent sovereign commonwealths to resist unto blood 
the usurpation of their rights by federal power. For the better 
success of this elfort, these sovereign commonwealths have formed 
another Confederation, based upon the same written Constitution on 
which the first had been founded. 

It is time there should be a pause in this career of usurpation. 
It has become a most pertinent inquiry whether there is any such 
thing left at all as State authority, or State sovereignty. The 
answer might be, that there is now practically no such thing in ex- 
istence among us. 

The department of government chiefly responsible for this course 
of things has been Congress ; but it is a subject of the most serious 
regret that this body should , sometimes seem to ignore the most 
vital principles of the Constitution. 



SEPTEMBER 11, 1862. 

The public will have observed with some curiosity, a recent propo- 
sition, made in Congress, to depute an ambassador to the Yankee 
Government, to treat with it on the manner of conducting the war. 



69 

The proposition is simply absurd, in view of tlie experience which 
this Govennnent has had of the hardihood and imiterviousncss of 
tlie Yankee rulers ; it is derogatory to our dignity, when we recol- 
lect the insolence and contempt with which agents, deputed by this 
Government heretofore to visit Washington on missions common to 
the usages of belligerents, have been turned away from the Yankee 
capital. The South wants no more ministers or agents smuggled 
into Washington, to be insulted there and dismissed. 

The people have, before this, been disgusted ^yith weak and ridic- 
ulous attempts to enter upon diplomatic intercourse with the North. 
They have invariably exposed us to the coarsest insults and the 
most undisguised derision of our claims for recognition at Washino-- 
ton, in the persons of ambassadors or deputies, A persistence in 
these attempts is wounding to the pride and self-respect of our 
people, liowever the Government may reconcile it with its own no- 
tions of dignity. 

It would not have been worth while to discuss this proposition, 
but that we detect in it a sentimentality which has been manifested 
in other measures ; which has been disguised under ])leasing forms 
of luunanity ; and which should be severely checked before it de- 
velops itself in some weak and fatal policy. 

The proposition to mitigate the horrors and severities of the war 
is curiously introduced into Congress at the very moment our armies 
are passing into the enemy's territory. It proposes a sentimental 
appeal to the people of the North, calls them " our brethren," and 
declares that we would still make them our friends. The time for 
this stuff about brotherly love is past. The idea of conquering the 
North by sending armies into her borders, which are to respect the 
rights of private property, maintain guards around Yankee houses, 
give protection to abolition non-combatants, treat Yankees as 
"brethren," and extend to them the embraces of fraternal reconcilia- 
tion, is supremely absurd. 

Our armies have passed into the territory of the North, and it is 
now too late for us to talk about mitigating the severities of war and 
sparing that truculent country the scourge of invnsion. As they 
have done to us, we must do to them ; measure foi- measure must be 
returned, and on their heads must rest the crime of the fearful works 
of carnage and desolation in which we shall be rightful avengers and 
instruments of justice. If peace is ever conquei ed from the North, 
it will be only when the horrors of invasion are felt by it, and the 
scenes by which scars of desolation have been left on Virginia soil 
are repeated in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The sentiment that would 
tame our armies on the soil of the North, that would have them fight 
against the detested Yankees only as a misguided "brother," and 
that hopes for a conclusion of this war by mitigating its severities to 
the enemy, will be fatal to our cause if it is ever adopted in the pol- 
icy of the Government. Such counsels of humanity are fine for ser- 
mons and sophomorical speeches. They are good in the abstract; 
they would be unimpeachable under different circumstancs. But 
when they are advocated in favor of an enemy who has filled om* coun- 



60 

try with mourning and distress ; who has violated on our soil every 
law of humanity and every custom of decency ; who, it is mockery 
to suppose, can ever be subdued by any generosity on our part, and 
who, at this very moment, after abandoning Virginia, is enacting in 
a more distant State of the Confederacy — brave, unhappy Missouri — 
atrocities unheard of before ; who is still crying out for more blood, 
more torture, more pillage of " rebels," — they are sentiments unnatu- 
ral, unjust, weak, cruel, and absurd. 



SEPTEMBER 2 2, 186 2. 

There will, of course, be great vatmting in the North over the 
retreat of General Lee from Maryland ; but there is no doubt that 
his conduct has been very judicious under tlie circumstances, and 
that the Yankees have gained nothing by that retreat. On our part, 
this attempt at invasion, brief as it has been, is a great gain. It has 
learned our troops and officers what they can do, and taught the 
North that war can be wajjred at its own doors. 



SEPTEMBER 2 9, 18 62. 

The Government of the United States has shot its bolt. The proc- 
lamation of Abraham Lincoln, which we publish this morning, de- 
creeing the unconditional abolition of slavery in all the States which 
shall not submit to his power by the first of January next, is the 
fulfilment of a menace made ever since the commencement of the 
war. Enormous results have been, and are, calculated as its conse- 
quences. It is scarcely necessary to say to any one who knows the 
public mind in the South, that it will have absolutely no efiect at all, 
either one way or the other, on the conduct of the States. The only 
serious importance which it possesses consists in the indubitable in- 
dication that the Northern Government is resolved to pursue the 
affair to its extremity — intends to stop at nothing in the prosecution 
of this war. What we have hitherto seen is but the prelude of the war 
which will now begin — the war of extermination. Let us at least 
hope that one effect of this proclamation will bring the Confederate 
Government to a realization of the business in which we are engaged. 
But a short time since Mr. Davis came out with a solemn publica- 
tion of his intention to punish the violation of the rules of civilized 
war by Pope and his officers. Our brave troops having taken a 
number of these officers prisoners, they were brought here to Rich- 
mond and placed in confinement. Only last week the resolution of 
the President melted down. Pope's officers were all sent home on 
the cartel. It was insinuated that the United States disapproved of 
Pope's proclamation ; at least it had recalled Pope, and relieved 
him of his command. Now comes the proclamation of Lincoln ! — 



61 



A fittino: commentary upon the contemptible baclc-out at Hicbmond 
— the call for the insurrection of four millions of slaves, and the in- 
auguration of a reign of hell upon earth I 



NOVEMBER 25, 1862. 

The history of the world shows that the art of war, in its highest 
and most brilliant sense, as distinguished from the dull routine of 
military operations, is peculiarly the product of i-evolutions. This 
difficult and grand art requires the presence of genius, and is nat- 
urally dcA-eloped amidst revolutionary agitations. A revolution 
demands quick and daring action ; it rejects the " prudence of medi- 
ocrity ;" it kindles whatever there is of mind in a country ; it de- 
pends for its success in military matters not on routine or circum- 
spection, but on the adventure and masterly rapidity of genius. Its 
art of war is essentially different from the conduct of hostilities be- 
tween old established powers. 

The historian Thiers happily seizes this distinction, and illus- 
trates it in a comparison of the tactics of the old powers of Europe 
with the art of war as practised by Napoleon. The distinction runs 
through the whole history of the French revolution. The tacticians 
of the coalition fought Napoleon with unimpeachable skill and won- 
derful elaboration. To each battalion they opposed another; they 
guarded all the routes threatened by the enemy, and they made but 
few advance movements which might possibly uncover them or risk 
a disadvantage in ground. 

It remained for Napoleon to regenerate the art of war. To form 
a compact body of men, to fill them with confidence and daring, to 
carry it rapidly beyond a river or chain of mountains, to strike an 
enemy unawares by dividing his forces, by separating his resoux-ces, 
by taking his capital, were his grand and novel illustrations of war- 
fare. The genius that accomplished these wonders was developed 
in the midst of a revolution, and stimulated by its sympathies and 
excitements. In any other circumstances than those in which he 
lived, Napoleon might never have been heard of. 

The memorable examples furnished by history of the genius and 
enterprise natural to all struggles originating revolutions are sadly 
contradicted by our experience in this war. The terse criticism of 
Thiers applied by him to that art of war in which the fire of revolu- 
tion is lacking, seems, by singular controversion, to describe exactly 
the military operations of the revolution we are now fighting. The 
only modification necessary to suit his language to us is that " the 
man of genius" has never yet appeared in our revolution, nor is 
likely to come but by tribulation as long as every promising com- 
mander in our army is repressed, as Herod did the babes of Beth- 
lehem. " The prudence of mediocrity sacrifices more blood than 
the temerity of genius, for it consumes men without producing ade- 
quate results," says Thiers ; and this sentence is surcharged with 



62 

truth and emphasis as descriptive of the war in which we are en- 
gaged. 

It is difficult to find an adequate explanation for this anomaly. 
The war we are waging is essentially a revolutionary one. In the 
mental excitement with which it was inaugurated ; the upheaving 
of the masses ; the close sympathy between the army and the peo- 
ple ; and the desperate spirit, it has all the elements Avhich make 
up the historicnl idea of a revolution. And j^et, in its practical conduct, 
it has been emphatically a war of '* routine and circums2:)ection," and 
is chiefly remarkable for a fruitless consumption of life in stationary 
camps and on indecisive battle-fields. The courage and endurance 
of our soldiers, and not the genius of our commanders, gives it the 
only adornment it has in the eyes of the world. 

It may be, however, that we are hasty in remarking upon the low 
state of the art of war and mediocrity of mind, as characteiistics of 
the Southern revolution. Military talent may now be painfully 
working its way up through executive disfavor, and the restraints 
and snares of official jealousy. It is a quality of genius that the 
arts of meaner men cannot repress it. It may be thwarted to some 
extent by jealousies, and kept under the shadow of names great in 
authority ; but it asserts itself at last. It is yet possible that some 
great and adorning name now mounting to the vision, or still be- 
neath the hoiizon, may arise to overshadow the mediocre reputations 
of this war, and to give to the Southern revolution its true position 
in history. 



DECEMBER 1 T , 1 8 6 2 . 

General Lee's account, and very moderate estimate of his victory 
on the heights of Fredericksburg is published this morning. It 
contains no new fact, and is chiefly remarkable for claiming less than 
the public naturally expected. The battle is defined to have been 
simply a signal repulse of the enemy. There was no rout or pursuit. 
The Confederate general's plan w^as purely defensive, and was per- 
fectly supported in all its parts. The chief strategic results are the 
discomfiture of the enemy's scheme for an advance on Richmond by 
the railroad, — tlie loss of men, dead and wounded — and the demor- 
alization of a defeat sustained by his army. What that loss was is 
not estimated in any manner by the Confederate general. He puts 
his own loss at eighteen hundred — killed, wounded, and missing. 
This is an exceedingly small number, considering the large force en- 
gaged, the fierce conflict, and its long duration, but it can be easily 
credited by those who know the admirable position occupied by the 
Confederate troops ; while the havoc in the lines of an enemy who 
attempted to carry it by an advance from the plain of Fredericks- 
burg, could not have been otherwise than disproportionally great. 

General Lee, in another short, but significant disj^atch, announces 
that the enemy has recrossed the Rappahannock with his whole 
force, withdrawn his bridges, and appears to be in motion for some 



63 

other point unknown. We sincerely hope to find unfounded the 
statement volunteered that the enemy will not probably attempt 
another advance on Richmond by their late line of march. Noth- 
ing would be more agreeable than to hear that their columns liad 
again formed for the ascent of those hills still firmly held by the 
Confederate army. Would that all the war was a repetition of that 
assault. 

The retreat across the Rappahannock is the confession, absolute, 
of defeat. No flag of truce, or petition for burial of the dead, tells 
the tale so positively as such movement under such circumstances. 
An array that does this, in the eyes of all the world, and in its own 
eyes, is certainly a defeated army ; literally and ignominiously 
defeatC'l. 

We shall await the next arrival of Northern news with great 
curiosity. Yet, we should not be at all sur))rised to find the Yankee 
press in full conflagration of triumph over the splendid and decisive 
success of the invincible Burnside, and the immortal army of the 
Potomac. The world has not forgotten that this same army, after 
gaining a signal victory at Mechanics ville, in view of the housetops 
of Richmond, was conducted through five more victories, yet moi'e 
glorious and complete in all their parts, across the Chickahominy to 
Harrison's Landing, thii'ty miles ofi", on the James River. After this 
miracle of Yankee cuteness, the late mysterious event on the Rap- 
pahannock can be consistently and clearly explained without 
difficulty. 



DECEMBER 3 1, 186 2. 

At length the last day of a terrible year has come. Few persons 
now living can point to another period of their existence in which 
fortitude has been more severely tried. He who casts a retrospective 
glance upon the dangers all have risked, the privations and ruin 
many have suffered, the dear friends most have lost by a violent 
death, will have reason to be grateful for the insensibility of his 
heart, if he is not oppressed by painful and sombre emotions. 
While many hundred thousands, accustomed to independence and 
comfort, have been reduced to abject poverty and distress, those who 
have escaped must reflect tliat they have been nearer to utter 
destruction than they were ever before this year began, or are like to 
be again when it is ended. 

But this year is not without glorious consolations. The unaided 
strength and unbacked courage of the nation redeemed its fortunes 
from the dust, plucked up its drowning honor by the locks, and tore 
from the very jaws of death the right to live forever. History will 
hereafter show no page illuminated with more enduring glory than 
those which record the heroic events of the circle of months which end 
with this day. In those months a forlorn republic, a people covered 
with the opprobrium and prejudice of the world, have secured a place 
in the Pantheon of remembered nations far above the most famous. 



64 

Neither the story of Greece, or of Rome, or of France, or of 
England, can bear a fair parallel with our own brief but eventful 
narrative. Is not this triumphant crown of victory worth the awful 
price ? The question will be answered according to the tempera- 
ment of the reader. Many think, with Sir John, that honor cannot 
cure a broken leg, and that all the national glory that has been won 
in battle since Greeks fought Trojans, will not compensate the loss 
of a beef or a dollar. But the young, the brave, the generous will 
everywhere judge that the exercise and exhibition in this year of 
the noblest virtues has been more than worth the misforluues which 
have marked its progress : 

" Sound the clarion, fill the fife ; 
To a sensual world proclaim, 
One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name." 



JANUARY 21, 1863, 

It little concerns the South on what grounds the Democrats of 
the North may choose to base their political action. It is solely a 
matter for their own decision. But as they desire to make the South 
a party to their proposed line of action, it is certainly proper that 
they should be informed of our own feelings and determinations in 
that behalf. 

The Northern Democrats are conducting their controversy with 
the Abolitionists in power upon three several propositions, to wit : 
first, that arbitrary arrests at home of " loyal " citizens must cease, 
and domestic liberty at least be preserved ; second, that the war must 
be conducted with refei'ence to crushing the rebellion, and no longer 
merely for the aggrandizement of favorites — with the object, more- 
over, of restoring and harmonizing the Union, and not for the 
insane purpose of Abolition propagaudism ; and, third, as a pre- 
liminary to peace, that a convention of delegates from all the States 
of the two hostile powers shall be called, charged with the duty of 
adjusting on a constitutional basis, and with constitutional guaran- 
ties, terms of re-union. 

With the two first propositions the South has no concern. The 
Yankees will carry on the war vigorously or not, and deal with 
each other roughly or smoothly, without any reference to the wishes 
of the South, and without any interference from her in their intes- 
tine squabbles. But, when one of the rival factions proposes to call 
the South into council with a view to restoring the Union, they may 
as well be told promptly and solemnly that that part of their pro- 
gramme cannot be carried into effect. 

What cold and heartless people are these Yankees, even these 
Northern Conservatives. How can any one with a particle of 
human sympathy actuating his bosom suppose, after the malignant, 
appalling brutalities of this war, that the South could consent to 



65 

unite in amicable conference with snch an enemy as hers ? If tho 
livinw could consent to bury and forget their resentments, what 
would be done with the dead, whose blood cries out against the 
murderers with a voice which no apostacy could stifle ? The dead 
of this war met their fate in performing the duty of heroes ; and by 
a base re-association with the enemy we would consent to dishonor 
their names, and to brand with infamy their conduct. 

The advocates of peace at the North may as well dismiss frora 
their programme the preposterous proposition for a joint convention 
with the South. The South cannot by any moral possibility con- 
sent to a re-union. 

It is not for us to give advice to any party at the North, but in 
this case the maxim is certainly true, which holds that it may be 
wise for them to leani from an enemy. The lesson which we would 
teach the Northern conservatives is simply this, that honesty is the 
best policy. Let them not go before their peo])le with a delusive 
and false programme. Let them not deceive their people into the 
belief that the South will unite in the convention which they propose. 
The Union is broken, and broken forever. Like the beautiful bubble 
blown from a pipe, once broken, it can never be restored. The 
blood which has been shed can never be washed out. The grievous 
wrongs which have been inflicted upon us can never be repaired, 
forgotten, or forgiven. The South, even if she could consent to 
dishonor herself, could never consent to defame her dead, or turn a 
deaf ear to the voices appealing from fifty thousand graves against 
the enemy of their country and their race. She cannot consent to 
reconstruction ; and the Northern conservatives, if they have hearts 
and feelings, know it. Their hands, no less than those of the Aboli- 
tionists, are stained with Southern blood ; their consciences are 
squally loaded with the guilt of this wholesale and wanton bloodshed ; 
and we will not, we cannot grasp them in friendship. It is a fraud 
and falsehood to teach the Northei*n people that we will unite with 
them in convention. 



JANUARY 26, 1863. 

The custom of denouncing the Yankees is becoming common. 
"tJnder the sott influences of a serenade, President Davis likens them 
to hyenas ; Governor Letcher, in his mild way, insists that they are 
a heaven-defying, hell-deserving race, and pleasantly consigns their 
chief magistrate to a doom more fearful than that of Devergoil. Is 
it to be wondered that Mr. Lincoln has had a trouble on his mind 
ever since this fearful doom was pronounced upon him — that he is 
getting gray, and finds it diflicult to tell a dii'ty anecdote every ter 
minutes during the day? 

The practice of vilifying the Yankees has gotten into the news 
papers. Editore spend most of their time in concocting diatribes 
against a contemptible race, whose only defect is a proneness to all 
that is foul and every thing that is evil. Why should a people so 



66 

despicable be aspersed ? Even this newspaper, careful as it is, 
never to say a word that would disturb the most placid tea-party, 
has been known to speak disrespectfully of a race which the civil- 
ized world, with one consent, acknowled<jres to be its last and vilest 
product. One would suppose that creatures so ahoundino:; in the 
stenches of moral decomposition would never be alluded to in decent 
society. But somehow the habit of expectorating upon the vermin 
that swarm in the Northern dunghill has gotten the better of gentle 
natures ; and time drags heavily on the Southerner who refuses to 
indulge himself some twenty times a day in a volley of direful 
anathemas against the Yankees. 

Reflecting persons tell us that this is altogether wrong. We 
should restrain ourselves, and be scrupulously polite when speaking 
of these abominable villains. We should recollect thai these in- 
fernal scoundrels are human beings, and bear in mind the fact that 
they never lose an opportunity of heaping the most outrageous 
abuse upon ourselves. Nor should it be forgotten that they have 
attained an almost inconceivable perfection and dexterity in lying; 
so that if it were possible for us to match thera in Billingsgate, we 
would still be at their mercj' in the trifling matter of falsehood. 
We are told by our philosophic friends that it should serve to cool 
the intensity of our hatred to remember that they are hourly com- 
mitting every crime known to man, and some with which even the 
fiends are not familiar; that a thrill of delight should pass through 
us when we recall the pleasing circumstance, that upwards of a mil- 
lion of these incarnate demons are hired by the year for the sole 
purpose of murdering us, burning our houses, killing our cattle, 
stealing our slaves, destroying our crops, and driving our wives and 
helpless children into the waste, howling wilderness in mid- 
winter; that a genial glow of the purest love should pervade our 
hearts at the thought that they candidly avow their purpose to ex- 
terminate us, to kill every one of us — men, women, and children — 
to take our jiossessions by violence — in a word, to annihilate us, to 
destroy u-5 from the face of the earth, so that our names shall no 
more be heard among men. 

There is another view which should encourage us in the purpose 

henceforth to cherish an affectionate regard for the accursed beings 

at war with us. To the well-regulated mind, the beastly practices 

of beasts excite no disagreeable emotion ; and it is said that the 

scientific intellect finds a world of enjoyment in the contemplation of 

the disgusting utility of the lowest order of creatures. Surely the 

feast of the vulture upon carrion is not reprehensible, and occasions 

in the b3hold9r no special wonder, and never any animosity against 

t the bird for gratifying his peculiar tastes. So the tiger that laps 

as')lood, and the beetle that gorges excrement, are but Yankees of the 

graiimal kingdom, accommodating the wants of nature ; and it w^ere 

oily to impute to thera improper motives in partaking of their 

N^ghastly and sickening repasts. It follows that our feelings towards 

' the people of the North, the scarabiei and vipers of humanity, should 

be characterized neither by rage nor by nausea, but by a fixed, 



C7 

cheerful Cbristitm determination to interpose sufficient olistacles 
between tlietn and ourselves ; to curb their inordinate and bloody 
lusts by such ndcquDte means as natural wit suggests; and, as a 
general tiling, to kill them wherever we find them, without idle 
questions as to whether they are reptiles or vermin. A certain 
calmness of mind is requisite to their successful slauij^hter. The con- 
vulsions of passion are out of place when one is merely scalding 
chinches to death. 

The foregoing reflections are suggested, naturally enough, by the 
accounts in Yankee newspapers of Butler's triumphal ])rogression 
from New York to Washington, and back again to IJoston. A 
great hue and cry has been raised at the South becaiise the spawn 
of Northern cities saw fit to prostrate themselves before this new 
Haynau, this modern Verres, returned from his conquests — this 
Beast, emerging from his cave filled with dead men's bones. Why 
this outcry? Wherefore assail the Brute, clotted with gore, or the 
chimpanzees that danced and chattered at his coming, and beslob- 
bered him with praise ? What had this hog-hyena done contrary to 
his instincts, that we should so berate him and his worshijipei's ? 
He had hanged JMumford. That was true Yankee courage. He 
had issued a hellish order against the ladies of New Orleans, That 
was unaifectcd Yankee gallantry. He had put the mayor and hun- 
dreds of others into dungeons. That was the Yankee conception of 
the proper method of administering the laws of the " best govern- 
ment the world ever saw," He had banished from the city more 
than twenty thousand people who refused to perjure themselves by 
taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. That was the 
Yankee idea of justice. He drove those people oif without a change 
of clothing, and with only fifty dollars in money. This was the 
Yankee idea of humanity. He confiscated property by millions. 
This was Yankee honesty. He supplied the rebels in Texas with 
munitions of war, and pocketed the proceeds of the cotton received 
in exchange. This Avas a smart Yankee trick. His troops were 
whipped at Baton Rouge, while he was in New Orleans; he was 
never under fii-e, and never smelt gunpowder, except at Hatteras, 
when the long-range guns of his fleet opened upon a mud fort, which 
had no ordnance that could reach him two miles oft'; and on the 
strength of this he issued an address as pompous as Satan's speech 
to his legions in the bottomless pit. This was making material for 
Yankee history. After inflicting innumerable tortures upon an in- 
nocent and unarmed people, after outraging the sensibilities of civil- 
ized humanity l)y his brutal treatment of women and children, after 
placing bayonets in the hands of slaves, after peculations the most 
prodigious and lies the most infamous, he returns, reeking with 
crime, to his own people, and they receive him with acclamations of 
joy, in a manner that befits him and becomes themselves. Nothing 
is out of keeping ; his whole career and its reward are strictly artis- 
tic in conception and in execution. 

-^" He was a thief A sword that he had stolen from a woman — the 
niece of the brave Twiggs — was presented to him as a reward of 



63 

valor, lie had violated the laws of God and man. The law- 
makers of the United States voted him thanks, and the preacliers of 
the Yankee gospel of blood came to him and worshipped him. He 
had broken into the safes and strong-boxes of merchants. Tlie New 
York Chamber of Commerce gave him a dinner. He had insulted 
women. Things in female attire lavished harlot smiles n]ion him. 
He was a murderer. And a nation of assassins have deified him. 
He is at this time the Representative Man of a people lost to all 
shame, to all humanity, all justice, all honor, all virtue, all manhood. 
Cowards by nature, thieves upon principle, and assassins at heart, 
it would be marvellous indeed if the people of the North refused to 
render homage to Benjamin Butler, the beastliest, bloodiest pol- 
troon and pickpocket the world ever saw. -' 



JANUARY 3 1, 18 63. 

What would have been the governmental policy of the Republi- 
cans had there been no war ? Many people at the ISTorth fancy that 
it was not their original purpose to subvert the Constitution and 
change the whole structure and policy of the Government, but that 
they have been driven by the war into excesses which they never 
contemplated. The suspension of the habeas corpus^ the suppi-ession 
of free speech, the muzzling of the press and of the telegraph, arbitrary 
arrests, and all other outrages are due, it is said by these apologists, 
to mihtary necessities which override all law. Granting, what can 
be proven false, that the Republicans did not bring on the war — that 
the nine governors who went to Washington, did not decide Lincoln 
in favor of bloodshed — granting this, the question arises, what did 
they intend to do, how did they propose to carry on the Govern- 
ment, what were their plans and their ultimate aims ? If this ques- 
tion could be answered satisfactorily, the soberer portion of the 
North would have some idea of what is in store for them, in case the 
South is not subjugated, and the Republican party is permitted to 
retain power. 

The Chicago platform, disdaining concealments, announced flatly 
that free soil was for free men, and that the South had no rights in 
the Territories. Lincoln was no sooner elected than he declared 
boldly that he " intended to place the Government actively on the side 
of freedom." Pie added, that he was " utterly opposed to any conces- 
sion or compromise that shall yield one inch of the position occupied 
by the Republican party on the subject of slavery in the Territories." 
If these declarations be studied attentively, they will show that it 
was the purpose of the Republicans, from the beginning, to throw 
the whole weight of the Government against slavery, and in favor 
of free-soilism — in other words, the essence of the Repuhlican plat- 
form was abohtion. For it is not possible to use the influence of a 
powerful government against slavery without destroying it — unless 
war intervenes — and the destruction of slavery is abolitionism. 



69 

' A tlious.an'l other proofs miirlit be adduced to show that the Re- 
publican p.irty was originally what it has been since it came into 
power, and wliat it is at this moment, a party of one idea, aiid that 
idea one which is at variance with the Constitution and the whole 
past policy of the United States. In plain terms, it is a revolution- 
ary party, based upon a theory as visionary as any of the French 
revolutionists, without any conception of the spirit or the form of 
true government, and without the least familiarity with its adminis- 
tration. Is it to be wondered that its leaders have exhibited the 
extravagance, tiie corrnption, the mendacity, the unscrui)ulousnes9, 
the violent passions, the ignorance, the endless crimes, the thirst for 
blood, that have in all times characterized fanatical men while in 
power ? 

The Republican party was formed, then, for the purpose of over- 
throwing the Government of the United States. Its aim was so to 
change the Constitution as to make it inimical to slavery. Beyond 
this it had no tixed policy. But in carrying out this new policy, in 
putting into practice the dogma of abolitionism, it has been found 
that an entirely new system of government must be adopted : a dic- 
tatorship which is fully upheld by the Republican party. A Union 
without State iities is the only Union they care to save ; a consoli- 
dated, abolitionized "nation" is the result of the feast of blood to 
which Lincoln's guide, Wendell Phillips, invites the people of the 
West. 



FEBRUARY 4, 18 63. >v 

Mr. Davis has his favorites to whom he gives opportunities denied 
to all others. He persists in maintaining in chief command one Lee, 
although Lee has had that position for nearly a year, and won glory 
enough for three men. He appears unable lo divest himself of the ^ 
idea that Joe Johnston must never be denied the place he so much 
covets, the front of battle, where he may accumulate lead in his tis- 
sues, and adorn himself with a few more dozen of honorable scars. 
He is infatuated with Beauregard, dotes on Bragg, and, in tixct, seems 
disinclined to give up any one to whom he has ever taken a fancy. 
Not so with Lincoln. He has no prepossessions in favor of anybody, 
or, if he has, they are not allowed to interfere with the good of the 
country. With an abundance of military talent at his command, he 
wisely determines to avail himself of the whole, and not of a part. 
Prompted by a love of justice, he retains a commander only long 
enough for him to make a reputation, then relieves him and calls for 
another, who else had languished in obscurity. No wonder that his 
armies are always successful, that his soldiers light so well, that 
their military councils are so harmonious. 

He began with Winfield (or Wingfield) Scott, a man famous in two 
hemispheres, full of strange oaths to support the Constitution of 
the United States, of infinite hatred to Jetf. Davis, piqued against 
Virginia for not voting for him for President, trained in war and 



70 



confident of cnishing the rebellion — the man of all others that an 
ordinary President would have kept as genernlissimo during the 
whole war, Scott chose as his Lieutenant and Execuiive Officer, 
Irwin jMcDowell, a sturdy, soldierly person, who simred the confi- 
dence of liis gigantic patron. On his way to Manassas, Irwin told 
an old lady, who had been molested by his soldiers, that she need give 
herself no uneasiness as to the future, for his army would be in Rich- 
mond in a few days, and would return to Washington by a different 
route. Sometime on the afternoon of Sunday, the 2 1 st of July, 1861, 
he appears to have changed his mind and the direction of his army. 
He returned to Washington by the very road that he came. 
A number of people, none of them disposed to humge by the way- 
side were in the road that afternoon, and it has never been known 
how McDowell contrived to pass them, or at what precise hour and 
in what fiame of mind he reached Washington. 

Scott and McDowell had a fair chance at Manassas. Wingfield 
swore he was the greatest coward in the world, and Lincoln took 
him at his word. He sent him to West T^oint to nurse his gout, gave 
McDowell command of a division, and called fioni tlie mountains of 
Virginia an avaricious raih-oad President, of doubtful loyalty, who 
had stumbled on a success over a handful of Confedei-atcs, whose 
leader had been slain — Lincoln's choice was approved by his sub- 
■jects. If any of them had been inclined to murmur at the removal 
of men so great as Scott, they soon became silent, or filled the papers 
with hosanuas to the new chieftain — thus evincing that heavenly 
harmony which is the soul of patriotism and the glury of the North 
American nation. 

Accustomed in peace to tlie indecent haste of railroad travelling, 
McClellan adopted in war the sedate tactics of the mud-turtle. He 
manifested no fondness for former pursuits, except a passionate affec- 
tion for spades and pickaxes, a reverence for trenehes, and a sub- 
lime fervor for embankments. He develojied tlie strangest liking 
for mud and marshes, and no muskrat ever delighted in ditches half 
so much MS he. Some accused him of letting out the nar to his old 
friends, the contractors, at so much the cubic foot, but Lincoln 
paid no heed to these satirists, believing with McCleilan, that the 
best way to extricate the nation from a difticulty was to excavate, 
or exhume it. Accordingly, McClellan continued to excavate for 
nearly a year, — and at the expiration of that time was found by Lin- 
coln at Harrison's Landing, still digging with unabated ardor. 
Abi-aham was well pleased, but concluded that George had had his day. 

His next selection was John Pope, who was called to the supreme 
command, not because his master had any particular confidence in 
him, but because his turn was come, and because of a singular opti- 
cal inability under which he professed to labor. He liad never 
been able to see any thing but the backs of the rebels. As this 
incapacity had never been experienced by the former leaders of the 
Grand Army ol" the Potomac, it was thought desirable by Lincoln 
to test its advantages. The experiment was thorough, but of brief 
duration. jSIcClelian having exhausted the tactics of the turtle, 



71 

Pope adopted the manoeuvres of the crab, an atiimal whose 2fait is 
a sort of uncf rtain retrograde flank movement, not wry clear to 
itself, and entirely incomprehensible to beholders. Pope carried out 
his crustacean theory with wonderful accuracy and alacrity, arriving 
in Washington at the expiration of a lew weeks without loss. 
About two-thirds of his army remained behind for the purpose of 
studying his theory at leisure, and a few thousands a]ipliecl them- 
selves to study with such ardor, that they perished, martyrs to the 
new science of war. 

Gratitied with Pope's performances, Lincoln sent him on a pleasure 
trip among the Indians of the Nortliwest. Being somewhat doubt- 
ful as to whose turn came next, he reiiistate.l iNlcClellan until he 
could make n\> his mind. Unwilling a second time to imitate the 
turtle, McClellan announced the ram as his model and engaged in a 
great butting match at Antietam, whence he retired with an addled 
brain, Avhich,in the opinion of Lincoln, demanded a protracted leave 
of absence. Little ])urnside was then called up to the head of the 
military class, and in spite of his protestations of mental disability 
and general worthlessness, was commanded to carry on the war in 
what fashion he pleased, provided always that it was vigorous. 
Burnside obeyed. He had been victorious at Roanoke Island, and 
in the fens and pools of that scene of triumph had discovered an 
instructor in the art of war whose method he deemed invincible. 
Rejecting with scorn the turtle, the crab, and the ram, IJurnside 
elected the snake-doctor as his tactician. This shrewd insect ex- 
hibited to Burnside movements the most ma-terly, combined with 
strategy the most profound — his method consisting in a sudden and 
unexpected sideways dodge, followed by a bold pause, and then 
another dodge, more rapid and unforeseen than the iirst — in fact, a 
surprise which it is impossible to anticipate, and still more impos- 
sible to foil. Long study over the pools and puddles of lioanoke 
Island had made him so familiar with this system, that in less than 
a month after he assumed command of the army, he executed the 
snake-doctor dodge down to Falmouth, and then paused. He then 
snake-doctored his army across the river, and paused. Afterwards 
he dodged it against some obstructions that happened accidentally 
to be upon the hills outside the town, paused for a day or two, 
and then, being convinced that he came very near achieving an 
impossibility, quietly snake-doctored his decimated legions back 
to tStatford again. Still another snake-doctor dodge he attempted 
lately, but becoming entangled in McClellan's favorite cement, mud, 
threw up his commission and retreated to Washington. 

Nothing could have been more acceptable to Lincoln, not that he 
was dissatisfied with Burnside, but that he felt it was a titting op- 
portunity to put a fresh general on trial. The new man is Joseph 
Hooker, or " Fighting Joe," as his friends are pleased to style him — 
a personage destined to perform the most extraordinary feats, as soon 
as the mud gets dry. It is fair to infer that his science of warfare 
will be borrowed from none of the aquatic or amphibious tribes, but 
from some purely terrestrial and unmoistened creature or class of 



12 

creatines. He tells us that his army is superior to our own in 
" equipments, intelligence, and valor," and his friends assure us 
that he is " Fighting Joe," that is to say, an old-fashioned, ])lain, 
honest, straightforward list and skull fellow, who goes in for " fair 
play and no gouging." He will adopt none of the new-fangled prac- 
tices of his predecessors. He will disdain the "big Indian" method 
of Fuss and Feathers, the turtle tactics of McClellan, the crab prac- 
tice of Pope, the snake-doctor dodges of Burnside. We are curious 
to know in what category of figliting animals he will find his exem- 
plars. After much reflection upon so important a subject, we have 
narrowed his choice down to two dry-land specimens of the animal 
kingdom — one, a pugnacious quadruped, the yearling bull, the other 
a belligerent insect known to school-boys as the doodle-bug. 
One of the two "Fighting Joe" must elect, and we are inclined to 
think that he will choose the latter. The custom of the doodle-bug 
is to come out of his hole, attack his enemy wherever he finds him, 
and never to let him go until one or both are dead. This is the 
style, we should say, that would suit a "fighting Joe." And when 
Joe, the great Yankee doodle-bug, does pounce upon the poor fellows 
on the Rappahannock, who have no " equipments," no " intelligence," 
and no " valor," we tremble for the result. But if they do whip 
him, Lincoln, having tried everj^body else, will be compelled to 
take command in person of the Army of the Potomac, and then the 
fate of the Confederacy will be sealed. One joke from the Grorilla 
will do the business. An army convulsed with laughter can't fight ; 
it is whipped before the battle begins. And that, we seriously fear, 
will be the end of Lee's army. 



FEBR UA R T 9, 18 63. 

Christendom is about to be regaled with a most savage, ridiculous, 
ineifectual and odoriferous novelty. Dispatches of Friday last sm- 
nounced that the " negro soldiers' bill " had passed the Yankee 
House of Representatives by a vote of 88 to 54. " The slaves of 
loyal persons," says the dispatch, " are not to be received, and no 
recruiting ofticers are to be sent into the Border States without the 
permission of their governors. JSIr. Stevens said three hundred thou- 
sand men would leave the army in May. We could not raise fifty 
thousand white men. Conscription was impossible." 

AVhat a confession is here ! More than twenty millions of white 
people, educated in common schools, accustomed from childhood to 
those practical exercises by Avhich the wits are supposed to be sharp- 
ened, and the body invigorated, and priding themselves upon their 
endowments, make war upon less than one-third of their number of 
semi-barbarian Southerners, slothful, ignorant, enervated, depraved ; 
and after two years of war such as no people ever waged and none 
ever endured (so vast is its magnitude and so vehement and ma- 
lignant its energy), the stronger power is forced by the stern neces- 
sity of constant defeat and the inherent wickedness of the cause, to 



73 

appeal from its own race and section to African slaves for help. 
IIow shameful tlie admission of Aveakness — -how ridiculous the ap- 
peal for aid ! Three hundred thousand white men, trained in the 
art of modern warfare, throw down their arms in disgust in May, 
and their ])laces are to be filled with negroes who scarcely know 
the muzzle from tliebutt of a musket, and who, there is every reason 
to believe, can never be taught the simplest evolutions of the line. 
Could the absurd folly; of the Abolition crusade be more glaringly 
manifest than in this preposterous substitution of muscle and igno- 
rance for education, inexperience for training, clumsiness for skill, 
blind brute force for patriotism and intelligence ? It is the insane 
malignity of lanaticism whipped, beaten, driven to desperation. 

Enlightened Europe may turn from the threatened sickening hor- 
rors of a serAile insurrection invoked at Washington to a phase of 
this war, as it will be waged next summer, which, when depicted 
with historical accuracy and physiological fidelity, can scarcely fail 
to relieve its fears as to the future of the white race at the South, 
and conduce, in no small degree, to the alleviation of any epigastric 
uneasiness that Exeter Hall may experience in regard to the corporal 
welfare of the colored brethren. To be sure, some Southern families 
may be massacred, and some thousands of the dusky fraternity may 
be extinguished by way of mild admonition to the remauider; but 
to suppose that the masters of Culfee Avill be generally abated at 
the point of tlie John Brown pike, or that Cuffee himself will be 
slaughtered by wliolesale, as swine are at Cincinnati, is to indulge 
a nightmare which only weak tea, admixed with unadulterated 
fanaticism, can engender. 

The fate of the negro, of the white population at the South, 
and of the Northern army, respectively, will be decided in a brief 
contest which' will occur about the middle of next June, and which 
we will describe as gravely and succinctly as possible. On the first 
of April, fifty thousand negroes, who have been previously drilled 
in various camps of instruction, will be debarked at Aquia Creek. 
Pugnacious Joseph Hooker, foaming at the mouth from long delay, 
will organize them into brigades and divisions with the velocity of 
frenzied impatience. But it will require six weeks of incessant toil 
to perform this simple feat. It is at last accomplished. The pon- 
toons are laid safely and crossed without opposition. To prevent 
accident, the Grand Colored Division is put in the van. Greeley, its 
commander, remains at Aquia Creek "with a powerful glass," after 
the manner of Burnside. The skirmishers of the Grand Colored 
Division are thrown out. They deploy. 

The voice of an overseer calling hogs, is heard in a distant field. 
They rally on the reserve. ISTo rebels being visible, they are again 
throVn forward. They feel for the enemy, but he is not to be felt. 
They fire at nothing, fifty feet in the air, and hit it every time. The 
rebels being thus driven to their earth-works, the Grand Colored 
Division advances at the pas de charge^ singing a jMethodist refrain, 
to storm the enemy's position and to " carry the crest " at all haz- 
ards. Of a sudden, the artillery of A. P. Hill's command belches 
6 



74 

forth a hurricane of shell and shrapnel. There is a rising of wool, 
as of quills upon the fretful porcupine, under the caps of dusky briga- 
diers and sooty mnjor-generals ; there is a simultaneous effusion of 
mellifluous perspiration from fifty thousand tariy hides ; there is 
a display of ivory like fifty thousand flashes of lightning; fifty 
thousand pairs of charcoal knees are knocking together, and one 
hundred thousand Ethiopian eyeballs are rolling madly in their sock- 
ets, like so many drunken and distracted moons dancing in an ebon 
sky ; the Grand Colored Division trembles like a mighty pointer 
dog on an icy pavement — there is an universal squall, as if all Africa 
had been kicked upon its shins, and, at the self-same moment, a 
scattering, as if all the blackbirds, crows, and buzzards in creation 
had taken wings at once. To a man, the Northern army lies pros- 
trate in the field, asphyxiated by the insuflerable odor bequeathed 
to the atmosphere by the dark departed host. For a like cause, the 
rebel army is in full retreat to Richmond, Solitary and alone, with 
his nose in his hand, A. P. Hill surveys the silent scene. 



3fABCR 14:, 1S63. 

Let the South be warned by the spectacle which the North has 
presented during these years. AVhat has happened there has not hap- 
pened here ; but it might have done so, and it may yet happen. The 
elastic plea of public necessity deluded the North. The people there 
were told that all the j^ower of the country must be concentrated in 
the hands of one man that he might crush a rebellion; that private 
sufiering and injustice must be inflicted to prevent the destruction of 
the nation. The same overpowering argument has been often urged on 
the floor of the Southern Congress and in the Southern press. The na- 
tion has refused to listen to it, and, up to the present point in the war, 
has preserved its Constitution intact. But when the tug of trial 
comes, and the Aveak are alarmed, we shall hear it again, and if the 
representatives of the nation then listen, the Constitution and the 
cause will die together. 

For never was sophism more fallacious than this. The strength of 
the Confederacy will depart from it the moment it becomes a pale re- 
flex of the Northern empire. The North possesses greater numbers, 
and all the physical advantages in a greater degree, than the South, 
Yet the South resists with success, and why? J^ecause of its supe- 
rior moral force. This is still a free republic. Our armies fight with 
courage for their property and liberty. Our people endure the ills of 
war witli fortitude, that their laws and pi'ivileges may be secured. 
The North is governed by a despotism ; its soldiers and its peojile 
are enslaved. But if we do as the North has done, and surrender all 
the powers of the State into the hands of one man, the South will be 
governed also by arbitrary power, and its people, too, will be slaves. 
Then the struggle will resolve itself into a struggle between two 
despotisms, each possessing a certain amount of brute force. As the 



15 

South has far less of this than tlie North, the conclusion is inevitable 
that tlie South must succumb. The only hope of this country rests 
on a strict adhei*ence to its republican principles. The restoraiion of 
the Union becomes a possible thing the moment it is presented in 
tlie lorm of this question : Shall we belong to a great country gov- 
erned by arbitrary and despotic power, or belong to a little country 
also governed by arbitrary and despotic power ? 



MARCH 14, 1863, 

Second only to finance is tbe vital subject of impressments. In- 
deed, the question of food ranks before that of money ; and impress- 
ments aflect the supply of food more than any other action of Gov- 
ernment. These impressments are the uppermost subjects at this 
time with the agricult\iral population; and if this business is not 
regulated on some satisfoctory basis, the food of the country will be 
dhninished in all the grain producing portion of the Confederacy by 
one-third. Congress and the Executive may as well accept and 
recognize this fact at once ; for if they postpone their action until the 
season of seeding is over, they will then act in vain. 

LaAvs have been passed to restrict the culture of tobacco, and others 
will be made to prohibit the production of cotton ; but inasmuch as 
these are staples which the Government does not impress, they are 
likely to be, if some guarantees are not furnished against unjust im- 
pressments, more encoui'aged by that omission than if a bounty of 
twenty-five cents a j^ouud each w^ere oifered for their cultivation. 
Let Congress pass a law authorizing impressments without what is 
a real and just compensation, establishing a high commission to fix 
the prices of sujjplies ; and more cotton and tobacco will be cultiva- 
ted in the South than was ever known before. 

The temper of our people revolts at injustice and arbitrary violence. 
They are accustomed to the enjoyment of their rights unimpeached; 
and until recently they have been strangers to wrong and insult from 
Government officials. If they are properly compensated, and equal- 
ly dealt with, they will give all their labor and savings to Govern- 
ment, and give them cheerfully, but if these are exacted arbitrarily, 
and with insolence and insult, they will not only give nothing at all, 
but they will take efiectual measures to prevent the minions of 
Government from obtaining what they prowl through the country 
to seize for a mockery of payment. There is a feeling of resentment, 
deep seated, and widely pervading the best class of the community, 
against Government, which is held responsible for these mad and 
reckless impressments ; and there are high oflicers in this goodly 
city who fancy that they are popular in the land, but whose names 
are held in execration by the staunch classes which control public 
opinion. 

Official, legalized robberies never answered a good purpose in 
any coui.try or any age of the worldj and of all countrie* 8nd ages they 



suit oitrs the least. Strange, tliat, when the people are willing to 
contribute to public service with cheerfulness and alacrity all that 
they have, on liberal terms, Government should insist upon exacting 
their substance under multiplied circumstances of gratuitous wrong. 
Strange, that, when so much depends upon augmenting the supplies 
of food, so much should be done by Government to diminitsh 
them ; that, at a time when bounties should be offered for the en- 
couragement of agriculture, the most effective measures lor discour- 
aging it should be resorted to ! 

Tiiese arbitrary impressments of Government toiich the people's 
pride and sense of justice; and they have effected a gi*eat and natu- 
ral change in their sentiments towards the cause. Men, who, in a 
romantic and pious enthusiasm for their country, have cheerfully 
given up their sons to the battle, and have assisted with a sort of 
mournful pride in the burial of their offspring slain on the field, have 
had their feelings and temper towards the Government suddenly 
changed by the rude and rapacious action of Government press- 
gangs. They make this natural reflection, whether a good cause, 
administered in wrong and rapacity, can succeed ; and these im- 
pressments have done more to shake the confidence of the country 
in the capacity of its pubHc men in civil office for administering 
affairs, than any other cause and all causes combined. 

Whether regard be had to a supply of food sufficient to sustain 
the people and their armies ; or to securing the continued cordial 
support of a valuable class of citizens to the Govex'ument and the 
country ; or to preserving the sanctity of private rights, the integ- 
rity of the property and the immunity of the people on their owu 
homesteads, it behooves Congress to redress the present wrongful 
practice and establish a proper S3^stem of impressment Avithout delay. 
No one denies that impressment is frequently necessary to supply 
the army in active service the requisite food ; but it should be fully 
compensated, and the powers of tlie agents making it should be 
strictly limited. It does not seem difficult to provide by law proper 
regulations for impressment. 



APRIL 2, 1863. 

Few doubt, even in a faint degree, the ultimate triumph of the 
Confederacy. It is gloom, not fear, that clouds the face of the peo- 
ple, and it is caused by the extinction of all the delusions and illu- 
sions which shed a false, flattering light on the road ahead. They 
have been forced to the stern conclusion that their country is alone 
on the earth ; that they have no friend but God, who is aflir off, and 
no hope but in their own swords. With these they can do what 
many other nations have done in similar circumstances. They can 
defend themselves. They can so cut and hew the hordes of robbers 
and murderers coming down upon them that they will one day be glad 
to cry quits. But the work will be long. 



77 

Many do li'uly belieye thnt the cause is in tlancjc-r from an insuffi- 
ciency of food. But tliose appniliensions are certainly much exag- 
gerated. The scarcity of food is but temporary, and is artificial 
rather than real. A vast supply exists. It has not been put in 
market, nor has tlie Government been able to find it, simply because 
the Commissariat of the Confederate States, whether from folly or 
a worse cause, has been palpably mismanaged. It has failed to get 
what it wanted because it Avould not pay just compensation. But 
this difficulty, we hope, is past. Whenever the Government is will- 
ing to pay Just compensation for ]M-operty, it can get all it wants. 
Soon the very remembrance of this portion of our trouble will be 
forgotten. 

Of the final results of this war tliere can be no doubt, if the 
spirit of the people can be maintained at the height which it has 
held hitherto. All depends on that. Ours is tlie inferior party in 
numbers and material power, and the only hope of the Confederate 
cause rests on the superior pride, fortitude, and constancy, not of the 
army only, but of the country, which creates, supports, and inspires 
the army. Hitherto the sentiment of the country has been truly 
heroic. Nothing tliafc the enemy has done or can do will destroy it. 
But it is possible for the" Government of the Confederacy to do 
what the enemy has failed to do : to discourage and disgust the 
Southern people. Hitherto they have been very patient, even under 
the provocations of the many jacks-in-office, thieves, renegade Yan- 
kees, and nondescript parasites who have fastened on our Govern- 
ment, Unfortunately, this class wishes to do more than plunder 
the legitimate sovereigns of the soil. They wish the Confederate 
Government to become a pinchbeck imitation of the Lincoln Usur- 
pation. Until now they have met with small success. But from 
this source comes the true danger of the Southern cause. It is the 
duty of the people's representatives to check the Government in its 
follies, and support earnestly its measures when they are sensible. 
The i>eople themselves have now the opportunity to select for their 
representatives men who have the firmness necessary to repulse every 
attack upon the rights of States and tfi^f^hts of individuals, and 
the wisdom to do so without falling, even under the most aggravated 
provocation, into factious opposition to an administration which has 
its merits as well as its demerits, and with which the cause of the 
country is now identified in many points. 



MA Y 4, 1863. 

Never, probably, was there a deliberative assembly intrusted 
with the high responsibilities of legislation in a momentous crisis 
less gifted with commanding talent, or signalized by initiative power, 
than the Confederate Congress. The business of the country has 
been creditably performed ; important measures have been adopted 
from time to time; not, perhaps, the best that could have beeu de- 



78 

vised, nor free from grave eiTors of detail, but still aiming to accom- 
plish important objects, utilizing the resources of the country for 
the support of the army and conduct of the war. All these meas- 
ures, however, have been urged and forced by the people upon their 
representatives. 

The necessities of the situation, coming home to the most sacred 
feelings of every man in the Confederacy, have aroused thought, 
stimulated discussion, and concentrated the whole intellectual power 
of the people upon the few vital points essential to their existence. 
In the collision of opposing sentiments, and from the suggestive 
power of discussion, certain general conclusions became fixed in 
the popular mind, which Congress was only called upon to elaborate 
and perfect. They have been satisfied with the humble part of giv- 
ing expression to the popular will, and have not aspired to the loft- 
ier position of the chosen intellects of a nation, from whom originality 
of thought and fruitfulness of expedient is expected ; who tower 
above the general mediocrity, and, like lofty mountains, catch the 
first beams of the rising sun before it irradiates the plain below. 

That gi-eat genius should not have been evoked by the creative 
power of the stirring epoch through which we are passing is some- 
what remarkable. It may detract, apparently, from the poetical 
character of the contest, that no individual should stand prominently 
forward to receive that hero-worship to which human nature is so 
prone ; but, in real grandeur, as well as in solid hope of future pros- 
perity, the spectacle of a nation, sustained by generally diffused in- 
telligence and patriotism, far transcends the fitful display of indi- 
vidual genius. The dazzling exploits of an Alexander or a Napo- 
leon command the admiration of mankind and change the fate of a 
generation, but the solid virtues of a Scipio or a Washington, 
springing from and harmonizing with the deep-seated and widely- 
disseminated love of country, atford a surer guarantee of national 
greatness. 

The Confederacy may well dispense with the shining talents 
that stamp their impress upon a nation's history, provided the 
intelligent requirements of the people are executed with reasonable 
zeal and fidelity. History Avill find no more instructive theme than 
the spectacle of a nation in which the martial virtues were happily 
conjoined with pure patriotism and political intelligence ; Avhose in- 
dependence should be secured and institutions consolidated, not by 
the transcendent abilities or controlling influence of a few dominant 
minds, but by the general devotion and intelligent co-operation of 
the whole community. In such a country, the talents of the soldier 
and the statesman will never be wanting % suflicient measure to 
serve the State usefully ; they will never so completely overshadow 
the country as to become dangerous to liberty. 



MA F 7, 18 6 3. 

The depravity of Northern sentiment could not be more forcibly 
exhibited than in the expectations which that people had formed 



79 



from such a mountebank and braggart as the now beaten and dis- 
graced Josepli Hooker. Tliat he is a man without faith, truth, 
honor, or any of the distinguishing (jualities of a gentk'uuiu, is 
established by the fact that in the okl army he was hehl in contempt 
by his fellow officers, who refused to tolerate his society, and that 
when he Avas appointed to the supreme direction of the Federal 
forces at Fredericksburg, men of respectability, like Generals Sum- 
ner and Franklin, retired in disgust from their commands. 

He owed his elevation to tlie responsible position in which he 
has just so signally failed to the most dishonorable and disgusting 
conduct of which it is possible to conceive an officer can be guilty. 
He owes it to the fact that he was capable of appearing before a 
secret committee of the Federal Congress, and, in testimony filling 
many documental pages, indulging in most oifensive, criminatory, 
and flippant criticism upon the conduct of his superiors in com- 
mand, and his associate officers in the field. Full of vanity, and 
self-conceit, and assurance, he represented to the committee the per- 
fect possibility of capturing Richmond at any day of McClellan's 
campaign from Yorktown to Harrison's Landing, vaunting that he 
alone could have accomplished the achievement on several occasions, if 
he had not been constantly restrained from the work by his General- 
in-Chief Indulging that capital blunder in generalship of under- 
rating an adversary, and as voluble as conceited, he made the com- 
mittee vmderstand, by vociferous and minute explanations, how open 
the Confederate capital was to capture at every moment of the 
siege, and with what ease and expedition General Joseph Hooker 
could have clutched the glittering prize, if his arm had not been 
held by the evil genius who commanded the investing forces. 
That a dishonored ingrate, capable of giving such testimony, should 
haA'e been selected by the Washington administration for the re- 
sponsible task of directing the movements of a great army, is a 
fact which displaj^s, with striking force, the utter absence of moral 
tone in the men who rule the most corrupt and demoralized people 
on the globe. Reason should have taught theim that a fool so 
puflTed up with his own consequence, a brain so bloated and blinded 
with conceit, a general so oblivious of all merit in an enemy, should 
not be intrusted with a campaign designed to repair and redeem 
the overwhelming misfortunes of no less than four successive cam- 
paigns of disaster. The narrowness of this conceited General's 
mind, and the intensity of his conceit, have just been exhibited in 
conspicuous relief Thoughtless of what his adversaries might do, 
he undertook the critical task of flanking a formidable army after 
crossing a considerable river. Absorbed in his own plans, this ad- 
venturer and blusterer was incapable of bestowing any thought 
upon what must be the palpable strategy of his adversary; and 
the result is, a defeat at Chancellorsville more signal than that 
which was sustained by Burnside, and more disgraceful, because 
lost by more clearly stupid generalship in command of a far larger 
army. 

la contrast with the calamitous denouement of this adventurer's 



80 

career, anrl to afford an insight into the character of a YanTcee Gen- 
eral-in-Chief, we shall allow this irrepressible fighter to relate his own 
exploits, in a few random extracts taken from his evidence before the 
committee above mentioned. ^Ye shall permit him to begin his 
adventures at Yorktown. It will be seen that the committee m 
question was very willing to draw him out to the full length of his 
tether. 

" Q. To what do yon attribute the failure of the Peninsula Cam- 
paign? 

A. I do not hesitate to say that it is to be attributed to the want 
of generalsl:ip on the part of oiu' commander, 

"Q. What course would you have advised at the time of the land- 
ing on the Peninsula, under the circumstances ? 

A. What 1 subsequently did, will, I think, convey an answer to 
the question. I attacked with my single division a line of works at 
Williamsburg, stronger than the line across the Peninsula at York- 
town. I never could understand why I was required to send one- 
half of my number on duty, day and night, to dig, so as to invest the 
place. I felt that the enemy's lines could be pierced without any 
considerable loss. We could have gone right through, and gone to 
the rear of the enemy. They would have run the moment we got 
to their rear, and we could have picked up the prisoners. 

Q. You were there when the enemy retreated from Yorktown ? 

A. I was within a mile and a half of there. 

Q. Will you state briefly and succinctly what took place upon 
their retreat? 

A. Had General Sumner advanced at the proper moment, the 
rebellion would have been buried at Williamsburg. He did not 
advance at all. 

Q. Where was General McClellan all this time ? 

A. At Yorktown. 

Q. You stood your ground? 

A. Yes, sir. I have since leainied, from the most I'eliable sources, 
that when the ll^vs of that battle reached Richmond, Jefferson 
Davis and Governor Letcher moved their families out of Richmond, 
removed the archives and their lil)raries, and every citizen who could 
command a vehicle, had his goods piled on wagons, and prepared 
to abandon the city. They only returned (those who had left) when 
they found that the pursuit ceased — I almost say, was abandoned." 
[When they heard Hooker was coming, they packed up to run ; 
when they heard that Hooker was forbidden to come, they unpacked 
their trunks, restored their books to the shelves, and went to bed in 
security.] 

" Q. Is it your judgment that you could have gone into Richmond 
then? 

A. I think we could have moved right on, and got into Richmond 
by the second day after that battle, Avithout another gun being tired. 

Q. AVhat was done ? 

A. We moved on in a manner I never did imderstand, losing 
time." 



81 

On the first day of the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, every 
thing went wrong. Hooker Avas not in it ; his division was posted 
six miles from the battle-field. Late in the day, however, he was 
ordered forvrard, got iairly down to the work next day, and, as will 
be seen from his own testimony, soon sent the rebels into the woods. 

" When reaching within about a mile of what was called Savage's 
Station, the head of my colunni became impeded by the fugitives, 
trains of wagons, and fragments of batteries upon the road, and was 
prevented from advancing, except with their bayonets at a charge. 
From this cause my colunm could make but little headway, and at 
the time I left them, to ride to the front, I doubted if they could 
advance at all. When I reached there, the battle of Fair Oaks for 
that night w^^s nearly over. Aboxit dark my troops came up. We 
bivouacked on the ground, the firing having been suspended. The 
next morning, about seven o'clock, the firing was renewed. I started 
vsith the half of my division I had with me, to meet the enemy. 
The enemy was firing on Sumner's command, which Avas occupying 
the railroad at that time. I made towards the heaviest fire, and 
came uj) m the rear of the enemy, and in half an hour after my men 
became engaged, the enemy was routed, throwing away their arms, 
clothing, and haversacks, and broke for the woods in the direction 
of Richmon<l. 

Q. That was the second day of the fight ? 

A. Yes, sir ; and that was the ending of the fight at that battle." 

Hooker had done the business up in the right style, and made a 
finish of the fight. 

"Q. Suppose that the next day after this repulse of the enemy at 
Fair Oaks, General McClellan had brought his whole army across 
the Chickahominy, and made a vigorous movement upon Richmond, 
in your judgment, as a military man, what would have been the 
efiect of the movement? 

A. In answer to that, I would say, that at no time during the 
whole of that campaign, did I feel that we could not go to Rich- 
mond." 

In fact, there was no time at wliich Hooker (in Hooker's opinion) 
could not have gone into Richmond. 

" Q. Were you in the battle of Malvern ? 

A. Yes, sir ; and at that place we won a great battle. 

Q. Could you have gone into Richmond after the fight? 

A. I have no doubt we could," 

The fighting of this redoubtable man was as decisive at Antie- 
tam as on the Chickahominy. He fought and actually won that 
battle, if his own narration is to be credited, with his OAvn division 
alone, but swooned from a wound received in the act of consummat- 
ing his victory. Since waking from his swoon, he has never been 
able to understand how the rebels got away in good order, and 
how it came to be a drawn battle. 

It is unnecessary to follow this irrepressible conqueror through 
the camjiaign of the Rappahannock. There was too little fighting 
in that aftair to afibrd full scope to his genius. Enough was said 



82 

by him before the committee to convince Mr. Lincobi that that 
campaign was lost in consequence of inattention to the counsels of 
General Hooker. He opposed the direct attack upon Fredericksburg, 
and advocated the crossing and flank movement above, the merit of 
which has just been so signally illustrated in the sanguinary engage- 
ments of last Friday and Saturday. The result of that battle 
alFords the most eloquent and crushing commentary upon the brag- 
gadocio whom we have set forth at such length. In his language 
to the authorities of his Government, he seems to have improved 
with great diligence that text in the first chapter of the Book of 
Ju(bis, which declareth : " Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, 
verily the same shall not be blown for him." But when charged 
with the duty of performing the task he professed so much anxiety 
to undertake, and so much confidence of achieving, he has afibrded 
the most deplorable instance on record of the folly of intrusting a 
blusterer and j^retender with grave and great responsibilities. 



MA F 9, 18 6 3. 

The Rappahannock has been passed probably for the last time by 
the Grand Army of the Potomac. It is scarcely possible that the 
successor of General Judas Hooker will again attempt to carrj'^ it on 
to Richmond by the mail route. Where the Army of the Potomac 
will next turn its dismal steps, and where it will next be beaten, 
is yet nnknoAvn. It is certain, however, that it must move some- 
where. From the beginning of the war to this hour it has led the 
life of that fiimous Joe, whose name and late have been rendered 
familiar to the world by the most popular of living writers. 

" This boy, " says the constable, " though he has been rei:»eatedly 
told to, v^onH move onP 

" I'm always movin' on, sir," cries the boy, wiping away his 
grimy tears with his arm, " I've always been a-movin' and a-mov- 
in' on ever since I was born. Where can I possibly move to, sir, 
more nor I do move ?" 

" He won't move on," says the constable, calmly, " although he 
has been repeatedly cautioned, and therefore I am obliged to take 
him into custody. He's as obstinate a young gonoph as I know. 
He W'On't move ox." 

" Oh my eye! Where can I move to?" cries the boy quite des- 
perately, clutching at his hair. 

This interrogatory cry of poor Joe might be adopted and uttered 
with heartfelt earnestness by the Grand Army of the Potomac, 
when next it is taken into custody by the Herald or the Times, and 
sternly told to Move On by Lincoln. Where, indeed ! No army 
ever made such a variety of movements ; all have been equally 
unsatisfactory. Whenever it has moved on, no matter where or 
which way, it has moved to a beating. No sooner had it come into 
existence, than it heard, in tones of thunder, the order Ox to Rich- 



83 

MOXD ! It moved on— to Manassas. It lias been "a-raovin' on" 
continually since, and to similar piu'pose. 

Tlie Grand Array of the Potomac has never achieved a success. 
It has been periodically defeated for two years, and cannot, with- 
out such lying as would hurt the conscience of a prostitute, claim a 
single victory. Tlie annals of history may be searched in vain for 
another military' organization which has been paid more, supplied more, 
recruited more, deserted more, moved-on more, been more whipped, or 
which has run away such a monstrous mmiber of times. On all of these 
points it may proudly claim a ]>re-emiiience over the most famous 
failures of recorded memory. What will become of it now? Must 
it be thrashed any more? Are its legs equal yet to another race? 
Can 2.40 be gotten out of it again? 

What, too, will become of Judas Hooker? He betrayed his mas- 
ter, like the other Judas, and, like him, the only thing the " reward 
of iniquity" has gained for him, has been this new Aceldama, this 
modern Field of Blood. Will he go out like his prototype and hang 
himself there? The prisoners say they saw him falling from his 
horse. Did he, too, there " burst asunder in the midst, all his bowels 
gushing out ?" Fortunate is he if it was so. No form of sudden 
death Avould not be preferable to the mfamous depth of disgrace into 
which he will now tumble. In what condition does he return to those 
who hearkened to his brasr ! 



MA Y 11, 18 6 3. 

The hero of the war, that great genius, that noble patriot, the sup- 
port and hope of this country, Stoxewall Jacksox, is no more. He 
died yesterday at three o'clock in the afternoon. The immediate 
cause of his death Avas pneumonia, against which his constitution, 
shaken by the sore wounds received in the glorious victory at Chan- 
cellors, was unable to struggle. This announcement will draw 
many a tear in the South, and many a shout of malignant exultation 
in the North. Whatever difference of opinion may have existed 
among the semi-mtelligeait, the instinct of the people was fixed in 
the belief that this silent Virginian was one of the first of living 
men. In the popular estimate we most sincerely concur. There 
was the stuff of Cromwell in Jackson. Hannibal might have been 
proud of his campaign in the Valley, and the shades of the mightiest 
Avarriors should rise to welcome his stern ghost. 



MA Y 12, 1863, 



We have had recently some remarkable returns for the pretty 
civilities showered by Stuart and Hampton on the Dutch farmers of 
Pennsylvania during their raid to Chambersburg. That souvenir 
of chivalry is forcibly brought to mind by the sharp contrast of 



84 

recent oocm'rences. It lins long beon a laughing-stock for the Xorth ; 
and the narrative which was ])iiblishecl by Colonel jSIcClure, the 
Yankee commander at Cliambersliurg, of the polite phrases and 
punctilios of the "soft-mannered rebels" who invaded his military 
dominions, still survives among the Yankee humors of tlie war. 
We still have the picture btfore us of the sleek Yankee watching from 
the cover of his porch the wet, weary, and hungry "rebels" expos- 
ing themselves to a drenching rain, rather than invade the sanctity 
of the homes of the citizens of Cliambersburg; "begging" a few 
coals to light their fires, and humbly asking permission to buy food 
from the negro wenches in the kitchens ; while the officers made 
their salaams to Colonel McClure, and "thanked him for his can- 
dor" when he informed them tliat he was a red-hot abolitionist. 
It never seemed to have occurred to these damp knights that it was 
their duty to their men to take from an enemy what they w'anted of 
food and shelter ; they were too intent on pruning their manners, 
practising the knighthood of the middle ages in Pennsylvania, and 
establishing a chivalric fraternity with_ the Dutch civihzatiou they 
had invaded. 

We have had enough, in the recent Yankee raids, to put to the 
blush these recollections of " chivalry," and to teach us that the 
gentle knight-errantry of rose-water is but a poor way of opposing 
an enemy whose mission is that of savage warfare. 

From our Southern exchanges we gather some accounts of the 
conduct of the Yankees on their recent raid in Mississippi. We 
might prolong the frightful tissue of these barbarities ; but it is not 
necessary to exhibit the brutal and despicable cliaracter of the 
enemy Avhom we are so courteously fighting. 

During the excursion of Stoneman''s bandits in this State, uo 
opportunity was lost by them to insult females, to search the cham- 
bers of ladies, and to steal jewelry, chickens, and whatever articles 
of merclumdise they could conveniently pocket. 

In Kentucky, the conduct of the Yankee marauders, who are con- 
stantly spying out the land, is licensed and iininterrupted outrage. 

The contrast which these recent Yankee raids have aftorded be- 
tween the savage conduct of the enemy and the false tenderness of 
such knights as those who made the cavalcade to Chaml)ers])urg, 
not only disgusts and offends the true jmtriotLsm of the South, but 
it presents a case of rank injustice to our OAvn people, who are de- 
barred from retaliation, and whose interests are subordinated to the 
ambition of some officer to make a reputation for " chivalry " in the 
North, and earn a compliment in the JS^'to York Tribune. Again 
and again have Southern people had occasion to know the ridiculous 
figure they make, the contempt they bring upon themselves, and 
the positive injury they invite, by their sentimental tenderness for 
Yankees and their monkey chivalry to their enemy. But court to 
Yankees is a fashion that seems to be ingrained in the Southern 
mind. An opportunity never seems to be lost, whether they invade 
districts occupied by the enemy, or come in contact with him, or 
take prisoners, for some vain Confederate commander to make a 



85 

display of stilted wanderer, and dance some ridiculous jig of polite- 
ness, to the edification of the varlets who suiTound him, 

Cliivalry is a very noble quality. l>ut Ave do not get our idea of 
it from the mincings of dandy preacliers and parlor geldings. We 
do not dei-ive our interpretation of the codes of war from sprigs 
dressed up in Confederate unitbnn of uncertain moral gender. We 
know that we are in a dreadful war; tliat we are fighting a base 
and deadly enemj-. While it is not for the South to tight with any 
mean advantage, it is time for her to abandon those polite notions 
of war which she has got from the Waverley novels, and to fight 
with lire and sword. If any retaliation is to be made for the recent 
Yankee raids (and present opportunities invite it), its history should 
be written in broad tracks of blood and destruction. There should 
be no re-enactment of the scenes at Chambersburg. We must pay 
the euemj^ back in the savage coin of vengeance, and settle our 
accounts in blood. 



ifAYli, 1803. 

0]sr one point the North feels the weight of the war. Strange 
tliat precisely wliere the Southern Government assumed from the 
first that it could make no show — on the sea — ^it inflicts the only 
blows which have touched the vitals of the enemy. Our victories 
on land have saved us from destruction, but have not hurt the 
ICorth. Dead Yankees are cheap. Lost guns and consumed stores 
make room for more, and the contractors, who are the whole 
Northern people, grow rich by replacing them. But on the sea 
they feel what is the misery of war. A half dozen forlorn privateers 
have done more towards rendering peace possible than all our great 
generals, brave aiTuies, and prodigious triumjjhs. The vessels burnt 
are dead losses ; losses without insurance; and Rachel weeping for 
her children was never more inconsolable than wealthy owners. A 
glance at the Northern press is sufficient to gauge the savage 
violence of the sentiment which the Southern success at sea creates 
in the Northern heart. 

It appears that the ocean is the only field, at present, on which 
the South can attempt or perform aggressive war. Let us hope that 
it will not always be thus. So long as Northern armies can 
batten on Southern soil, while their own towns and farms flourish, 
imtouched and secure ; so long as we can do nothing but defend 
ourselves, while the foe feels not the sharpness of the sword, and 
sees not the torch of war on his own roof; we may anticipate the 
continued duration of the present situation. The treaty of peace, 
if such a writing shall exist, Avill be signed only on the soil of the 
enemy. 

MA Y 2 0, 1 8 G 3 . 

^ What is the meaning of this cuckoo-cry of the North, that they 
are wao-ino- war to save the " life of the nation ?" Is there no life 



86 

for tliem except in a union Avith the Sontli ? The Confederate 
States can support a national existence very well by themselves ; 
why cannot the North do likewise ? And how unworthy of any 
nation is the plea, that it must die a political death if they lose their 
association with another, which desires to get rid of the fellowship ! 
Besides, even if the plea were ever so well grounded, if the North 
were, indeed, a mere parasite incapable of self-existence, does that 
circumstnnce confer upon it any moral right to yoke another people, 
alien and hostile, to an abhorrent association '? The rule in the 
natural world is, that parasites may be destroyed ; not that the self- 
existing plant, or animal, must support the parasite. Is the South 
not entitled to " live" as well as her enemy. 

But the abject meanness and the moral worthlessness of the 
plea is only equalled by its falsity. The "national life" will not 
perish by the loss of the South. The Yankees can still maintain a 
respectable nationality, if only they are capable of pursuing a 
virtuous course of conduct. They have a splendid country, a vast 
and unoccupied domain, a propitious climate, immense capital, 
unlimited resources of minerals, and forest wealth, skill in the 
mechanical arts, and great experience and enterprise on the waters. 
They are the best mastei-s in the w^orld of steam. What, indeed, 
have they not in material resources ? Why, then, must they lose 
their national existence by separation from the South ? The moral 
rottenness of their social labric ? But the Yankees do not acknowl- 
edge this: their excuse for the war is based on some other theory; 
it is the true reason nevertheless. 

It is precisely on account of their want of national and individual 
virtue, an imperative motive, why the South should flee from the 
modern Sodom. The South is forced by tlie most cogent reasons 
to make good her separation, and the North has no right to inflict 
her moral corruption upon her neighbor. The victim of the small- 
pox is bound to keep himself aloof from other people ; and he niay 
be shot down in his tracks, if he persist in thrusting this mortal con- 
tagion upon the public. 



MA Y 3 0, 1863. 

The Grand Army of the Potomac is said to be " moving on " 
once more. W^here it is going is a matter of surmise. Perhaps it 
is somewhat at a loss to know where it had best turn its steps. It 
has tried every known route to Richmond, and has come to grief on 
them all, and may be now quite uncertain whither it can go to 
avoid misfortune. 

The Federal Government itself might well be as much perplexed 
with its huge, magnificent, but most expensive and useless Army of 
the Potomac, as the happy pnrchaser of the elephant at auction. 
No army ever cost so much in men and money, or ever accomplished 
so little ; certainly none has ever been beaten so many times with- 
out being destroyed. If its 2:)roprietors are tired of it, we are too. 



87 

Thong'h easily and regularly -whipped, it has at least kept out of 
useful employment the best army of the Confederacy, including 
nearly all the Virginia troops. 

If this war was a tournament, we might desire nothing better 
than the manner in which it has been conducted by these two hosts 
Tip to the present time. The six months they have passed between 
Falmouth and Fredericksburg furnishes a fair specimen of their 
extensive intercourse. After long and careful preparation, the 
Grand Army crosses over, a hundred thousand strong; fifty or sixty 
thousand Confederates, well jiosted, tight with them ; the Grand 
Army is prodigiously Avhipjted — loses twenty thousand- — and then 
marches back to camp. After a month or more of recruiting, it 
comes again — finds the same Confederates reposing in the same 
fields — is whipj)ed again, loses more men, and marches back to camp 
in the same order. On the occurrence of these events, great praise 
is given to General Lee, and several Yankee Generals are dismissed 
the service, relieved of their commands, or sent away to torture old 
men, or fight Avomen and little children, in some unfortunate dis- 
trict of the country subject to the striped flag. If we could import 
shiploads of Irish and Dutch, after each of these " victories," no 
waj' of carrying on this war more favorable could be desired. But, 
while our army kills a great many Yankees, Dutch, and Irish, on 
one of these splendid field days, it also loses a considerable number 
of brave men. One of these is a greater loss to us than three of 
the others to the enemy. If that loss were counterbalanced by 
some military advantage which might serve as the foundation for 
future hopes, it would not be a loss at all, but a wise expenditure. 
Unfortunately, such victories change nothing. The United States 
and the Confederacy preserve their proportions and attitiides. The 
war will last forty years on these terms. Take the last of them, 
Chancellorsville. What have we gained by that glorious battle ? 
The poor lands of Spottsylvania have received a costly manure, and 
that is all. After the fight, the general order for both armies 
might have been the musician's command at the conclusion of a 
quadrille — " as you were !" Hooker, in Staftbrd, Lee in Spottsyl- 
vania, the Rappahannock betAveen. If they go down to the Chick- 
ahominy, or the James, what will be the difference ? 

We should be rejoiced, however, if Lincoln is the first to tire of 
this monotonous dance; as for Old Virginia, "she never tire." In 
the present moment nothing seems more likely than that the discom- 
fited and heart-broken Army of the Potomac should be taken home 
to Washington and broken up. 



J UKE 2 , 18 6 3, 



The war has proved the degeneracy of Virginia horse-flesh. We 
still have as fine horses in Virginia as ever ; but they are ^e-^. At 
one time in tlie history of our Commonwealth, first-rate horses only 



88 

were "bred ; Lnt the general practice has long ago ceased, and our 
stock of horses has become mixed almost universally with base blood. 
Accordingly, that which should be the strong arm of the South- 
ern service, tlie cavalry, is the weakest and most contemptible. A 
band of Yankee buggy drivers and teamsters, mounted on Pennsyl- 
vania Conestogns, intermingled with cold-blooded Morgans and 
trotters, have swept leisurely through that part of the Confederacy 
which should have been alive with fleet, ubiquitous, and in-esistible 
cavalry. Chase was made in one instance, and the enemy over- 
taken and chastised, but he rode away after his beating, and 
our cavalry were unable to follow, the horses being broken down 
and broken-winded. The celerity of Lee's legion and the partisan 
corps of Sumter, Marion, and Hampton, in the Southern campaigns 
of the Revolution, was due in great part to the excellence of their 
thorongli-bied steeds, wTiich were very fleet, had great bottom, and 
possessed withal, in some degree, the gift of Fortunio's horse, which 
fed but once a week. 



JUL 7 1, 1863. 

No f ict yet indicates the plan of General Lee, and, however curious 
the public may be, it must continue to w^ait. He is steadily pour- 
ing his troops into Pennsylvania, and it cannot be supposed that 
his only object is to show himself to the Dutch, or to satisfy the 
Yankees that they may devastate the South with impunity. Retri- 
bution is the law of nature, the law of God, the law of man, the law 
of nations. Punishment of crime is a necessity of society, and, when 
communities are guilty, the same justice which is meted to individ- 
uals, is also fitting for them. 



■ ■ : JUL T, I, 18 G3. 

, The country has learned with pain the particulars of the Atlanta's 
loss. The general fact had been briefly stated by the telegram ; but 
what we lost, and how we lost it, Avas unknown outside of the 
Naval Department. The Yankee press, however, tells us the least 
detail with unsparing care. This ship, the Atlanta, was an iron- 
clad of the first class, some three hundred feet long, constructed in 
our own waters. The Northern captors declare it to be superior 
to any other vessel of that character now afloat. She was so much 
swifter than any of their monitors that she could easily have walked 
away from them. Her walls consisted of four inches wrought iron, 
four of live oak, and four of jjine, which last material, as always ap- 
pears, was proven by the result to have been an error in the con- 
struction. Her guns were all on the Brooke pattern ; and her arma- 
ment was gigantic. A long beak of twenty feet in solid iron was 
a feature of the model. Her provisions, coal, and ammunition were 
ample for a two-months' cruise without a visit to 2:)ort. She had 



89 

just steered out of harbor ; was attacked by the WechaAvken and 
Nahant ; was grounded on a mud bank ; and, alter having liauled 
off it, grounded again ahnost immediately. Only nine shots were 
fired before she struck her flag. The last was a fifteen-inch sliell, 
which failed to pierce her mail, but shattered the pine lining, killing 
one or two persons with its splinters, and shocking the rest of the 
crew with the concussion so much as to have led to surrender. The 
Yankees got the vessel in a condition nearly perfect, hauled her off 
the bank in a few minutes, and found that she passed all their 
steamers on the way to New York. It is painful to hear such a tale ; 
nor is the pain alleviated by learnijig that the unhappy commander, 
after making a brief address to his crew of Georgians, in which he 
advised them to be resigned, fainted away on his quarter-deck. The 
surrender was probably made in due accord with the laws of the 
naval art ; certainly any court-martial would absolve the captain ; 
but it is to be regretted that the vessel fell into the enemy's hands 
in a perfect condition. We have built this magnificent machine for 
the enemy. The Atlanta has gone the way of all Mr. Mallory's iron- 
clads. Indeed, their way has gone from bad to worse. Hitherto 
they have only been burnt or blown up within a few weeks of their 
completion. Now they have learned the trick of dropping into the 
enemy's hands as soon as they get out of port. If history lacked 
proof that there is such a thing as an evil fortune, a bad luck, attend- 
ant on all the steps of particular men, the chapter of Mallory will 
hereafter furnish those proofs, to confirm the conviction of the great- 
est minds, and the superstition of the simplest, upon that point. So 
long as Mallory reigns, all that he touches, 

" quamvis Pordica pinus 
Syluoefilius nobilis,''^ 

will explode or sink. Never yet has he turned out of hand one 
good thing. The curse is on him, not on the Confederate sea-flag, 
as the exploits of the Alabama, Florida, Tacony, which he did tiot 
make, furnish a daily and glorious evidence ! 



JULY 7, 1863. 



The invasion of the North will demonstrate a fact long insisted 
on by that portion of the Southern press which exercises an in- 
dependent judgment, and indulges in a free expression of opinion ; 
namely, that no country on the earth is so susceptible of being over- 
run by a hostile force as that of what the French would call " our 
friends, the enemy." 

The ridiculous imbecility of the Pepjjsylvanians affords a faith- 
ful example of what would be exhibited throughout the North. 
There is no country in the world abounding so richly as the North 
in the materials needful for the subsistence and use of an army of 
invasion ; and not even the Chinese are less prepared by previous 
habits of life and education for martial resistance than the Yankees. 
7 



90 

From the very beginning the true policy of the South has been 
invasion ; and yet froai the very beginning this policy has been so 
rejected and denounced by the authorities, that it is even now 
incredible tliat they should have given their cordial sanction to the 
movement of General Lee. The future historian of this war will 
stand amazed at the inexplicable fact, that the South, for two years, 
stood with her arms folded, stolid, sluggish, and impassible, Avaiting 
for the enemy to mature all his preparations for attack, choosing 
his times, modes, and places of assault, overrunning one-half tlie 
country, retiring, advancing, and destroying as he pleased. 

The present movement of General Lee will be of vast importance 
in its immediate military results; but it will be of infinite value as 
'disclosing the great tact of the easy susceptibility of the North to 
invasion. The marvellous success of Bonaparte was due to the fact 
that he constantly maintained the aggressive, carried the Avar into 
the enemy's country, and made his adversaries subsist his army as 
well as their own. An army of a hundred thousand men, held 
under strict discipline, may march from Chambersburg to Boston, 
finding provisions, animals, and transportation wherever it goes. 

Ttie South is so sparsely inhabited^ and its wealth is so little con- 
centrated, that rapid raids through its territory can do little else 
than temporarily break up lines of railroad and devastate narrow 
belts of territory. We can well afford to risk this species of injury, 
and to carry our armies far into the enemy's country ; exacting j^eace 
by blows levelled at his vitals. Invasion ruins him, while it only 
cripples us. It is cheaper to suffer from raids while subsisting our 
armii.^s upon his substance, than to stand at bay on our own soil, 
suppurting with its produce both his army and our own. 



JULY 9, IS G 3. 

The news of the Vicksburg surrender is not less astonishing than 
unpleasant. It is the most unexpected announcement which has 
been made in this war. So astoundingly contradictory is it to every 
particle of intelligence lately received from that quarter, either from 
our own people or through the enemy, that there is a strong dis- 
position to doubt the authenticity of tlie dispatch sent to the Secretary 
of War over the signature of General Joseph E. Johnston. The 
last dispatches of Grant made jjublic by the Washington Government 
did not foreshadow an immediate fall of the place. Thus it was the 
moment of all others when a capitulation seems most inopportune 
and uulooked for. We have reason to believe that the Coniederate 
Govern;iient was not less unprepared for the reception of such news 
than the public. The circumstances that the surrender was made on 
the "Fourth of July," that<Uie wiiole garrison are returned home as 
paroled prisoners, that the officers cany off their personal effects, 
that there was no tightiug, and has been none for many weeks past 
to authorize such a step, do not assist its probability or intelligi- 
bility. 



There were 27,000 men in Vickshnrg. It was announcerl, on 
good Miitliority, that the town, wlieii tlie siege coinnienced, some five 
weeks ago, wis provisioned with rations for two months, and could 
hold out on half ratitnis for five months. Strong expressions of a 
determination to hold out while a man remained alive wei-e attrib- 
uted to the general in command. The place was impregnable by 
assault. This siulden sm'render cannot be explained at present 
without I'esort to theories, all unpleasant, and none justified by 
known f;icts. Some will say the garrison was mutinous ; others, 
that Pemberton was traitorous; otiiers, that Johnston was remiss or 
cowardly in the performance of his duty. But we must be slow to 
belie\e that the troops which exhibited so much courage in the 
assaults have suddenly become recreant. We are equally disinclined 
to think that General Pemberton, though a lieutenant-general with- 
out fighting, and though a Pennsylvanian, has incurred the infamy 
of Arnold. Kor can we think Johnston, after fighting bravely, and 
acting with wisdom and energy, in so m my circumstances ; after 
having been eleven times shot down in battle ; after Manassas and 
Seven Pines, — has suddenly become a coward or a fool. 

It is quite impossible for any just or sensible mm to form an 
opinion upon the merits of this affair with the present light, or rather, 
no light. Let us rather consider the consequences of the event. We 
do not hesitate to repeat, what we have often said before, that the 
j)nblic of the Xorth and the South both rate the importance of 
VicksburLj far too highly. So much blood and treasure have been 
poured out on that place, the unthinking have come to the conclu- 
sion that the possession of Vickshnrg must mean the possession of 
the Mississippi River. Yet nothing is more certain than that this 
belief is an error. When Cohimbus fell, the wise public will recol- 
lect, it was satisfied that -all was over ; that the river was subject to 
the enemy, and that nothing could prevent its immediate navigation 
and eni|)loynient by his steamboats and transports even to the Gulf. 
But it was a mistake then ; it is a mistake now. 



JULY 10, 1 8 G 3 . 

The crew of mercenaries, the hangers-on and parasites of power, 
are joined in an outcry against General Johnston. He is responsible 
for the fall of Vickshnrg. He did it. He ought to be hung, shot, 
cashiered at least. Here is a disastrous event, which is supposed to 
involve a fault. If there is a fault, two men are implicated in it. 
One is a young man, without a past, whose first battle was Cham- 
pion Hill, wlio owes his commission to favor; the other is an old 
war-dog, of long exj^erience in his trade, with a body seamed with 
scars, who is held in the highest esteem by the military profession, 
but who never had anybody's favor ; who is disliked by Mr. Davis. 
No one hea-e is yet acquainted with the circumstances which attend- 
ed and preceded the fall of Vicksburg; but the blame is Johnston's. 



92 

He did it. Who can suppose, even for a moment, that the fortunate, 
victorious, heaven-born Peinberton, could have done the wrong ? 

We have not the pretensions to be of Johnston's friends. The 
writer knows him only as some hundreds of thousands of other South- 
ern men have been compelled to know him. We have no private 
intei-est or personal desire to divert public censure from him. If 
Johnston had a force under him sufficient to raise the siege of Vicks- 
burg, and if he did not do it — if he left undone any thing he ought 
to have done, or could have done, to relieve the garrison, let him 
bear the whole penalty of such guilt. But not one atom of evidence 
is now patent to authorize the accusation. The late events in Mis- 
sissippi are imperfectly known. As to the suri-ender of Vicksburg, 
inspiration only can enable any one to judge now whether Johnston 
or Peraberton, or either, or neither, is culpable. What we do know 
is that the army which defended it, and the campaign which pre- 
ceded the siege, was lost under the sole command of Pemberton ; 
and no honest man can fail to protest with indignation against this 
filthy effort to shield a general by favor (for where were his battles, 
where the service which earned his commission ?), and those who are 
justly responsible for him, from the consequences of his incompe- 
tence by making a brave old soldier the victim and the scajiegoat. 

When a steam doctor has brought a patient to death's dooi-, his 
friends get scared and run ofi" to the family physician. He comes, 
finds the patient in spasms, speechless, pulseless. He thinks the case 
to be hopeless when he sees it, but he does something that he thinks 
may perchance help ; or perhaps he does nothing but watch for an 
opportunity to do something. The patient dies. The steam doctor's 
party in the house are triumphant. The patient died because that 
other doctor, that allopathist, was bi-ought. His lancet, his drugs, 
his science killed DonmNS ; or if they did not, they let him die, 
doing nothing secunduin artem. 

The campaign of the Mississippi was settled without Johnston. 
He had been ordered to Kentucky, and put in charge of Bragg's 
army, for reasons well known in congi'essional circles. When the 
crash came, and Grant burst through the puny barriers strung about 
Grand Gulf and the valley, a third order hurried Johnston down to 
Jackson. If he could not redeem Vicksburg, he might at least 
shoulder the responsibility of its fall. If he could not prevent Vicks- 
burg from following New Orleans, he could at least keej) Pemberton 
out of Lovell's shoes. The situation of the parties was remarked at 
the time when he was sent there. And, now, when the announce- 
ment comes by telegraph that Vicksburg " capitulated on the Fourth 
of July," wiiatis heard? That Johnston is a coward. Kept idle an 
army larger than that with which he won Manassas, while Vicks- 
burg was starvecL ..^Johnston is a dunce and a coward; Pemberton, 
a hero and a genius. 

The late events in Mississippi — Grand Gulf, Champion Hill, or 
Vicksburg — are disasters which require public examination. There 
are maladies so violent, and constitutions so weak, that they are be- 
yond the reach alike of the Thompsonian practitioner and the regular 



93 

physician. If Grant came to Grand Gulf with a hnnrlrod thousand 
men, a fleet, and re-enforcements always superior to his losses, per- 
haps it did not matter whether the army of Vicksburg was kept 
together or scattered as it was ; whether Johnston or Pemberton had 
charge of it. The data for settling a decided opinion on the cam- 
paign are yet wanting. But on one thing it is not necessary to sus- 
peird judgment. It is the policy of api)ointing unknown, inexperi- 
enced men, whose services give them no title to the highest positions, 
to the most important trusts, to the command of the greatest armies, 
solely because the opinion, prejudice, or fancy of the President is 
favorable to them. The appointing power is a trust to be executed 
according to certain evident principles. If betakes into his councils 
the first men of the nation, puts over the troops officers of tried 
ability, and failure ensues, he will be absolved from blame. But if 
he fills such posts by the second-rate and the obscure; by men who 
have done nothing to secure the confidence of the country ; by ad- 
venturous foreigners, who come here to " offer their swords ;" even if 
they are fortunate, he is blamable ; while, if the cause is lost in their 
hands, no punishment that this world or the next aiFords is adequate 
to the crime of their elevation. 



JULY 11, 1863. 

Few do not heartily approve General Lee's orders forbidding 
pillage and marauders ; few are satisfied with his determination to 
inflict no retaliatory punishment on the nation that has desolated the 
Southern country. The people of the South neither expected nor 
desired that our army, when it entered the territory of the enemy, 
should execute a wild and irregular retaliation by individual acts of 
outrage and revenge. Such a course would have resulted in the cer- 
tain demoralization of our army, been an occasion of scandal to the 
world, and, although the provocation and the precedent were alike 
given by the Yankees, would really have been a dishonor to our arms. 

It is not necessary that retaliation should be made, or that pun- 
ishment of the enemy should be executed by acts similar to the atroci- 
ties he has committed on our own soil. Because the enemy is guilty 
of theft, murder, and rape in our own territory, we do not advise that 
we shall commit the same crimes in his dominions. It is neither 
necessary nor proper that the soldiers of General Lee's army should 
plunder houses, assassinate the unarmed, or invade the beds of the 
uxorious Dutch. But it is proper, and in the highest sense it is 
necessary, that the Confederate armies should inflict upon the enemy 
some injury commensurate, as far as possible, with the outrages he 
has committed and the hate he has wreaked upon our own people. 
The rule of retaliation for us is to be found, not in the imitation of 
the crimes and vices of the Yankees, but in the principle of com- 
mensurate injury or loss. This, so far from compromising our self- 
respect or dishonoring our arms, is the foundation of all civilized 



94 

laws on the subject of punishments, and the just, and even moderate, 
guide of modern warfare. 

It had been supposed that our armies in Pennsylvania had made 
at least some approach to tliis very moderate rule of penalties by 
the levy of forced contributions upon the enemy, and it was publish- 
ed as recently as Saturday last that General Early had made a levy 
of this description upon the people of York. But the pleasant in- 
telligence now appears to be a mistake. Since its publication there 
have appeared the specific orders of General Lee, which show that 
these so-called levies are nothing more than ordinary reqnisitioni3 
for snpplies; that " all persons complying with such requisitions 
shall be paid the market price for the articles furnished;" and that 
where they shall venture upon the insolence of refusing tlie money 
of the Confederacy, they shall be pacified by " a receipt specifying 
the kind and quantity of the property received or taken * * and 
the market price," wdiich, as a certificate of indebtedness, may, after 
the close of the war, be recovered in gold and silver. The efiect of 
these extraordinary orders is to put the Yankee in the same posi- 
tion as our own citizens, and to give him the same protection. They 
effectually close the door to all hopes of retaliation, ignore the his- 
tory of the war, and authoritatively decide that the policy of our 
invading armies shall be the rigid protection of the enemy's private 
property. They compose the alarm which, it was supposed, inva- 
sions were intended to inspire, and, in fact, protect tiie only point 
where the Yankee is vulnerable — his purse. For to the destruction 
of public property he is by no means averse, since it occasions new 
expenditures and new crops of contracts, and, indeed, in this sense, 
assures for us a prolongation of the war. 

There are a few persons in this Confederacy who boast the phi- 
losophy of milk-sops in war, and would have our armies enact the 
part of Uncle Toby and the iiy. They do not consider that a 
spiritless warfare which does not intimidate the enemy is likely only 
to exasperate him by its small annoyances; that it thus prolongs the 
struggle ; that its mistaken tenderness brings us only into contempt ; 
and that its expression of justice is a thankless mercy to the enemy, 
a direct discouragement to our army, and an outrage upon those 
who, in their wasted farms and the blackened ruins of their homes, 
have constantly before their eyes the mementoes of their invaders. 

Where in history or in ethics does it occur that a barbarons and 
brutal enemy entitles himself to the refinements of war, the ]u-otec- 
tion of private property, and the restraint of every thing like re- 
venge ? In our wars with the Indian we fired his villages, destroyed 
his home, burnt his corn, and drove him into the wilderness. 
There were no pious ejaculations on these occasions, and nothing 
said about the merits of making war according to the principles of 
civilization. Compared with the modern Yankee, the natives of 
our forests were an enemy not more barbarous in deeds, and deserv- 
ing far more consideration and pity on account both of the merits 
of their cause and the ignorance that blinded them to its perversion. 
The claim of the Yankee for the protection of his private property 



95 

in this war is certainly not preferal)le to that whieh the Tnclian might 
have urcecl \n hU extremity. This, and all other incidents of en- 
lightened hostilities, onr present enemy forfeited by his own choice 
of a barbarous, bloodthirsty, and devilish warfare. 



JUL r 1 3, 1863. 

The attitude of the Southern Confederacy on one matter, is truly 
humiliating. The enemy has gone from one unmanly cruelty to 
another, encouraged by their im])\mity, till they are now, and have 
for sometime been, inflicting on the people of this country the worst 
horrors of barbarous, uncivilized war. They destroy the products 
of labor, devastate vast tracts of country, drive out the inhabitants 
where they do not destroy, and appropriate all their property, real 
and personal. They murder numbers of peaceful persons in cold 
blond, on the slightest pretenses. Meeting no check in these pro- 
ceedings, they have begun to treat Confederate soldiers falling into 
their hands, in the same lawless ftishion. Their imprisonment is 
more severe than that of felons, and every vain pretext is seized for 
hanging them. The enem}^ makes no secret whatever of doing so. 
Not a Northern paper fnlls into our hands which does not contain 
exultant paragraphs, telling how one, two, or three " rebels " were 
hung here or there, for " bushwhacking," spying, bearing dispatches, 
&c." Their illustrated weeklies are ifilled with carefully executed 
wood-cuts of gibbets, and "rebel officers" dangling from them. 
Soon the rules that they now apply to individuals, will be apphed 
to masses of men. This w^ill be a war of extermination, to us, not 
to them, if they are not checked in the road they have steadily pur- 
sued with speed always increasing. 

Human experience has yet discovered but one means of prevent- 
ing violent crime. It is by violent punishment. The only effectual 
preventive of murder is retaliation ! Society says to its enemy, if 
you murder one of mine, I will murder all of you ; and it does so. 
The only means of dealing with a nation that adopts the maxims 
and practices of bandits and assassins, is still an extension of this 
oldest law of the world. There is no alternative but sufferance and 
submission, which individuals may prefer for themselves, but which 
governments are sworn not to adopt. This truth has been fully 
recognized by the Confederate Government. It knows the right, 
and still the wrong pursues. ''Mr. President Davis's proclamations 
and pronunciamientos, his horrible threateniugs and gloomy appeals, 
have been so often repeated that they are the sneer of the world. 
But never have they resulted in one solitary performance. He is 
very obstinate, very bitter, when he gets in a quarrel with some 
Southern officer, over whom the law gives him temporary control. 
He is very firm, indeed, in maintaining a minion or a measure, 
against the smothered indignation of a people who are compelled, 
b)' their present unfortunate situation, to support silently, a great 



06 

deal from their officials. But, when his duty brings him in contact 
with the enemy, he is gentle as the sucking dove. 

Lately, the question of retaliation has come up in a form singu- 
larly direct. Two Confederate recruiting officers were captured in 
Kentucky and hung, on the ground that Kentucky was one of the 
United States. As Virginia, the Carolinas, and all the other States 
are claimed by the Union, it is evident that this precedent, if unpun- 
ished, will hang every officer that recruits, in every State of the 
Confederacy. The point was too plain to be evaded, and the Gov- 
ernment took two Yankee officers from among its prisoners, and 
ordered their execution. But, instead of hanging them, it commis- 
sioned a personage no less considerable than Mr. Stephens, the Vice- 
President of the Republic, to arrange a back door of mercy to the 
enemy, and of cinielty to its own peoj^le. Mr. Stephens was sent to 
Washington with a letter of credence to Lincoln, and another of 
instructions to himself from President Davis. A good deal was said in 
this last letter about titles, &c., which looks pitiful enough ; and the 
rest, relating to the business on hand, amounts to this : that if the 
Federal Government will only vouchsafe a civil word or so; will 
say, for instance, that it would like to mitigate the horrors of war, 
the Confederate Government would be happy to indulge in bound- 
less compassion for the two Yankees aforesaid. As to the two 
murdered officers in Kentucky, who feels compassion for them? 
The Vice-President went on his errand as far as Hampton Roads ; 
was stopped by the enemy's admiral there, to whom he signified his 
desire to open communication with the Federal Government ; kept 
two days in his steam-tug on the water ; and then dismissed with 
this flea in his ear : 

[D.] 

United States Flag Ship Minnesota, off Newpokt News, ) 

Virginia, July 6, 1863. f 

Sir : The request contained in your communication of tlie 4th instant is consid- 
ered inadmissible. 

The customary agents and cliannels are adequate for all needful military com- 
munications and conference between the United States forces and the insurgents. 

Very respectfully yours, 

S. P. Lee, a. R. Admiral, 
Commanding N. A. Blockading Squadron. 
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens. 

Now, who will deny that the Confederacy makes a sorrowful 
figure in this matter ? 



JULY 15, 1 8G3, 



Exaggeration is a popular vice. It is never indulged in so 
freely as after a battle. The battle at Gettysburg has furnished ma- 
terial for the usual amount of it. The most prodigious ciphers are 
employed by the Southern telegraph and the Northern press, to sig- 
nify the simple fact that a great many j)eople were shot within a 



97 

space of six miles, near Gettysburg-, and that nobody has counted 
them ; that many more were taken prisoners by the two armies, and 
the reporters are perfectly ignorant of their numbers. If we attempt 
the estimation of the loss" in combat, from the few persons in position 
to have, if they choose to use, tlie means of ascertaining the casualties 
sustained, the numbers dwindle singularly. What, then, is the 
meaning of those individuals connected Avith the army, who Avrite 
home after every battle, that this or that brigade or division — always 
theirs — went into the fight two thousand or five thousand, and 
came out with four hundred or fifteen hundred? Did all the loss, 
then, fall on two or three brigades or divisions ? It is not necessary 
to admit the supposition, nor yet to question the accuracy of such 
statements. The chief " loss " in such cases consists of stragglers. 
In plain words, many more run (a little way) from every battle and 
every fighting army, than are troubled with wounds or bruises. 
When, for instance, the commander of a Minnesota regiment writes 
home that he had 2,100 men at muster roll on Friday morning, and 
did not need three hundred rations for his troops next day, it is to 
be understood that Minnesota is fleet of foot. . 

The losses on both sides in the fight at Gettysburg have been so 
exaggerated, that it is as yet not easy to ascertain the ti'ue figures. 
It was a battle in which the Confederates had their own way during 
two days, and were repulsed in an attack made during the third on 
certain poweiful positions. They remained a day unmolested on the 
ground, and then retired in complete condition and order. So far as 
the fighting went, all that the Federal army did was to prevent its 
own annihilation. The Confederates were repulsed, but cannot, at 
present, with justice or candor be said to have suflfered defeat. It 
may hereafter be so said with reason if the oiFensive campaign ends 
with this battle, because it will be thought by the world that the 
accomplishment of General Lee's hitentions in Pennsylvania was 
prevented by the resistance made at Gettysburg. Tliis point, how- 
ever, is not yet decided. General Lee holds an impregnable position 
on the other side of the Potomac at this time, and has not yet given 
the slightest indication that he has renounced the campaign. The 
moral eftect, at the moment, is in favor of the North, but it is so 
from causes wholly independent of the action itself. The troops of 
the United States have suftered acknowledged and most disgraceful 
defeat by the army of Northern Virginia during an entire twelve 
months. Richmond, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellors- 
ville — the four seasons. They were not entirely beaten at Gettys- 
burg, and the unaccustomed result has raised the spirits of their 
country to the point of frenzy. We were not entirely victorious at 
Gettysburg, and the South is impatient at the contradiction to its 
usual fortune. Southern men of constitutional despondence are un- 
duly depressed, as the whole North is extravagantly elated. But can 
they reconcile their momentary melancholy to common sense ? What 
is lost even if the offensive campaign should be given over f )r the 
summer ? We are not worse olT than before it began, nor is the 
North a whit stronger. 



08 



JULY 16, 1 8 G 3 



Thohe interesting persons, whose imagination is better developed 
than tiieir reasoning feculties, frequently think themselves at " the last 
ditch," when it is distant many a year's journey. They create a 
crisis out of the slightest symptoms, and propose the wildest and 
most dangerous remedies, on the ground that it is impossible to kill 
the patient more dead than he is. One of these has written an elo- 
quent letter to the editor of this paper, which we are not able to 
print for him. He wants universal martial law ^ revolution of gov- 
ernment ; despotism : a levy eii masse without distinction of age, 
occupation, or bodily health. The crops are to be left ungathered, 
the horse unshod, the railroails shall cease operations, the courts be 
closed, the jails opened. All the people, old and young, sick and 
well, must run into the fields to fire glory out of fictitious mus- 
kets, and live on imaginary bread for the next twelve or twenty 
months. Further, our friend addresses a private appeal to this 
news])aper; inviting it, in a most complimentary manner, to take 
down the horn it blew in the spring of '62, and blow, blow, blow, 
till we raise the country. Softly, good friend ! We wish to blow 
that horn to a purpose, and it will serve none if we take it down too 
often. To scream out "wolf" when there is none, is admitted to be 
a bad policy. If the people ai-e called out to die in the last ditch 
when no ditch has been dug, perhaps they might not come when it is 
really ready. 

Let us look at things as they are. The conditions of the belliger- 
ents is wholly different from what it was in the days of Donelsoa 
and Yorktown, and the ditfei-ence is all in our favor. Then the 
Confederacy was an empty egg-shell. There was no army. Hnnd- 
fuis of troops were thinly sprinkled along a continental frontier. 
Their line broken, the country was without defence. But now we 
have an army, a terrible army ; and the existing laws, if enforced, 
furnish the means of maintaining and increasing it. The territory 
lost, however regretted, is certainly a military gain. Over every 
part of it, the enemy must drag supplies, march armies and keep up 
long lines of communication. On every foot of it he must leave 
some portion of his strength, or incur certain ruin when reverses 
come. Our contracted line is the easier defended. What military 
advantage have we lost by the fall of Yicksburg ? The South has 
held that place for a year chiefly from pride. We gained nothing 
from the Mississippi. Its banks are ravaged. To keep an insecure 
possession of them, the enemy must garrison them. If he advances 
on the interior, he will plunge into disaster. On the other side, the 
Confederates have their forces consolidated on an interior line, close 
to their resources of provisions and men, andean make either defen- 
sive or oflensive war with better chances than ever before. 

The Confederacy has lately received two "facers." It has a 
bloody nose and a black eye — but it Avas never sounder in wind 
and limb than it is at this moment. Even if the late checks were 



99 

siicli as to endanger the life of the nation, we are sure that its situa- 
tion Avouhl not be improved hy martial law and despotism. Xo 
power in tliis conntry can put in force martial law but a gx'neral of 
an army, and his power to do so is limited by his lines. As to arbi- 
trarj' o-overnment — that is not what the peo])le have made here. If 
arbitrary power should be inaugurated by the action of a clique, it 
is revolution, and the death of the C^onfederacy. How many would 
uphold it longer? The people are lighting for their constitutions, 
laws, and liberties. They will never understand the logic of sur- 
rendering them that they may keep them. When they are gone, no 
matter how, all is gone. 

If we had the power to rouse anybody now, we would try that 
power on the Government that exists. The hiAVS are sufficient for 
all purposes, save those of selfishness and wickedness. Nobody 
frustrates the operation of those laws. Enforce the laws of the Con- 
federacy with diligence and good faith, and the most that human 
agencies can do to save this country will be done. 



JULY 11, 1863. 

Generai! Lee has recrossed the Potomac. With this announce- 
ment, it is supposed, the second invasion of the United States is at 
an end. The Government and its chief General undertook this 
campaign on their own responsibility, and at their own time. Pub- 
lic opinion did not impel their action. But public opinion did, most 
certainly, justify, approve, and adopt it. Although it has been ab- 
ruptly terminated by an unsuccessful battle, we are far from think- 
ing that the design was injudicious. 

This war can be terminated only by such a measure. It might 
have been gloriously terminated in a month, had Gettysburg wit- 
nessed the annihilation of the Federal Army of the Potomac. But 
that battle was fought in a position which rendered success impossi- 
ble. Why it Avas fought is yet unknown. Many persons now blame 
General Lee for attacking tlie enemy there ; but we shall be slow to 
criticise an officer of his service and capacity until the facts are bet- 
ter known. We woiild only remark, in passing, that while Lee is 
censured for attacking an army little superior to his own, with the 
advantage of position against him, Johnston is denounced for not 
attacking four times his number, in fortifications and position by 
the side of which Gettysburg was a play-ground. 

But this campaign is not without gains which compensate the 
sacrifices made. It has filled the North with a sense of insecurity 
which cannot fail to suggest a different opinion of the power of the 
Confederacy, and a better notion of the advantages of peace. 

The Confederacy has lost several thousand able officers and brave 
soldiers ; but war cannot be made without such losses. The enemy 
have lost more, and the comparative strength of the parties is un- 
changed. We are thrown on the defensive ; but since we have no 



100 

longer to maintain the outposts of Mississippi and Tennessee, the 
work of defence can be accomplished with greater ease and certainty 
than before. The ^Confederacy can defend itself forever, if neces- 
sary. In that species of warfare, the party that will hold out 
longest is the party that wins. Every chance is in its favor. The 
South will be that party, for it cannot yield. To yield is to lose 
all that its citizens have on this eailh. 



JULY 21, 1863. 

If it has not been demonstrated that the Southern people (those of 
the Cotton States more especially) are without that tenacity of pur- 
pose, that indomitable obstinacy of patriotism, which have charac- 
terized many races of the earth — the Spanish, for example — it 
certainly has not yet been proved that they possess it. We might 
make an exception to this remark of the people of \''irginia, who, 
though slow to enter upon the present conflict, and though suffering 
unspeakable misery, privation, loss, and calamity from the war, are 
yet as resolute at this moment as at the beginning, and may be said 
to carry the war on their shoulders ; but we refrain from the subject, 
leaving it for candid men of other States to characterize the j^art 
she has borne in this struggle, and the qualities she has displayed in 
its progress. 

But, speaking generally of the Southern people, and passing by 
the exceptions which may exist to any general declaration, it is cer- 
tainly true that we have yet presented no general example of patri- 
otic devotion to country and principle, such as was exhibited by the 
population of La Vendee, during the French Revolution; nor any 
special instance of that sublime tenacity which characterized the 
Spaniards in the many renoAvned sieges, ancient and modern, from. 
ISTumautia to Saragossa, which constitute such brilliant chapters in 
the Spanish history and such redeeming traits in Spanish charac- 
tei\ 

On the contrary, the condition of affairs in portions of the South- 
west is sufiicient to make us blush for our race. Those rampant 
cotton and sugar planters, who were so early and furiously in the 
field for secession, and who, after the war had commenced, were so 
resolved on burning their cotton and destroying their sugar, not 
only did not burn and destroy in three cases out of four, but a great 
many of them, having taken the oath of allegiance to the Yankees, 
are now raising cotton in ^partnership with their Yankee protectors, 
and shipping it to Yankee markets. The baseness of this conduct 
is twofold. It not only involves the most shameless moral turpi- 
tude and personal apostasy, but it inflicts a heavy injury upon the 
general cause of the South, which is forsaken by these apostates. 
The quantity of cotton procured by the Yankees through the failure 
of cotton planters to burn their crops, and through these partnei'- 
ship arrangements for planting and selling it, is little imagined by 



101 

the loyal portion of our people. Not less than ten thousand bales a 
week are said to be received at Memphis alone. With a receipt of 
cotton as large as this, and a monopoly of the stock, the stability of 
Yankee finances is no longer a matter of surprise. P'ive hundred 
thousand bales per annum, at present prices, Avill give them as large 
a fund to draw against abroad, as the whole Soutliern crop of three 
or four millions of bales afforded before the war. With the ad- 
A'antage of receipts like these, it is no longer a wonder that exchange 
on London continues to fall at New York, and that gold falls along 
with it. 

The cotton planters who refused to burn their cotton, and those 
who have entered into these base partnership arrangements for 
cropping and shipping, have inflicted as heavy a blow upon the 
South as all the Yankee armies. They have given the Yankees the 
means of upholding their financial system, and of keeping on foot 
the large armies that are invading and desolating our country. 
They are the men who really recruit, pay, and subsist the troops 
that are laying our country waste with fire and sword. The great- 
est pains and care ought to be taken now by Congress, to cause an 
accurate list to be made of the men who refuse to burn their cotton, 
and who are now raising and shipping it to Northern markets. It 
will constitute for all time the blackest roll of shame in Southern 
archives. 

The Avant of tenacity of purpose and inflexibility of patriotism in 
the character of a class of Southern people, is painfully conspicuous 
in these cotton transactions. When it is remembered that the se- 
cession movement was inaugurated by the cotton population of the 
South, that the Confederate Government is conducted almost exclu- 
sively under the auspices of cotton statesmen, even to the extent of 
proscribing other important and quite as patriotic classes, these 
shameful transactions of mercenary cotton planters on the flats of 
the ^Mississippi appear still more strange and reprehensible. If the 
secession Government is to be used as a private tart of cotton men, 
the infamy of the treachery of these cotton planters becomes the 
more black and shameless. These cotton apostates were long and 
loudly clamorous for principle, and the South discovers, in the 
agony of the crisis, that their principles are the loaves and fishes. 



JUL F 2 5, 1863. 

» 

Those who choose to receive their political opinions from the 
English press, reviews, and newspapers, the Times and Punchy look 
on the present master of France as the modern Spiiyxx, whose 
riddle no man need try to read, whose future actions cannot be an- 
ticipated from his past career, and who is led by motives not to be 
understood by sane minds — a hidden character, an unfathomable 
policy. Yet, if any one will dismiss this current nonsense, this 
cockney gabble, and go to the natural source for information, he 



102 

■ft-ill soon be satisfied thai there is less tliaii the usual foundation for 
the popular delusion. Louis Napoleon is a political gambler, who 
plays dummy at the whist of nations. Before he began the game, 
he spread out his cards, faces up, on the table ; now,' that he is 
seated, he says nothing ; but all who choose may see each trump 
before he draws it from the hand. Though "reticent" now, he was 
once a profuse writer. Among other things, he wrote a little book 
entitled Idees isfapoleoniennes. The title is familiar to English and 
American readers — ^but chiefly so from the witticisms of Punch — for 
very few have read it. None who have done so regard the French 
emperor as a living enigma. The line of conduct expedient for 
France, the internal and foreign policy fitting its position in the 
nineteenth century, are described therein with singular minuteness 
of detail and precision of conception. The principal enterprises and 
all the measures of Napoleon during the last ten years were pro- 
posed in that work in the plainest language, their purpose stated, 
and their machinery explained. This monarch has really done 
nothing but pursue a consistent plan which he wrote out and j^rinted 
years before he ascended the throne, but which a large portion of 
the civilized world have refused to consider, though their interests 
are deeply affected by every feature of it. 

The book purports to be an attempt to deduce a number of 
general principles from the facts of Napoleon's history. That 
portion of it which relates to the aim of Napoleon's conquests, im- 
mediately interests the Southern Confederacy at this time. The 
writer endeavors to show that it never could have been the inten- 
tion of his relative to incorporate the territory he conquered with 
the realm of France, but to cover Europe with kingdoms, inde- 
2)endent in their forms and in some realities, but organized on the 
French system, endowed with French institutions, united to France 
by community of laws, coinage and commerce, so com2)letely, that 
they would be compelled by their interest to accompany her in all 
offensive and defensive movements, and follow her steps through 
the future developments of civilization. France was to be the 
spring, the neighboring nations the wheels of the watch, which, in 
like manner, would cause other nations, like other parts of the 
machine, to revolve and mark the hour on the dial of time. Thus, 
France would govern the world, and govern it for its good — its 
French good, at least — and this, according to the nephew, was the 
universal empire, the only universal empire possible, at which his 
uncle aimed. 

AVhether a correct statement of the first Napoleon's design or 
not, it has been consistently pursued by his successor. He has re- 
duced Europe to something very like the real dependence, under 
appai-cnt independence, which he described long ago as the future 
confederation of civilization. If he was not too old to admit the 
hope that he might live to complete an enterprise so great, recent 
events would lead us to suppose that he had undertaken the appli- 
cation of his sj^stem to the American continent. His conquest of 
Mexico can scarcely be explained in any other way. He has, from 



103 

the first, (loc'l:iiV(l that ho has not the slightest intention of pcnufl- 
neutly incovi)orating that vast country with the French empire. 
That, indeed, wouUi be a dangerous, a troublesome, an im])ossible 
project. It is an Italy, not an Algiers, he is making in iMuxico. 
But even such an organization could not long keep its connection 
with France under the pressure and hitiuence of the United States, 
if that republic should continue to control the whole force of the 
Nortli American continent. If France is to get any permanent 
good from Mexico, the Union must remain dissolved, and one or 
moi*e new governments be established between it and the United 
States, which would be bound, by the i)riuciple of self-preservation, 
to recognize Frencli Mexico, and seek through it the support of 
France, The emperor undertook the business of Mexico, only after 
the dissolution of the Union was an accomplished fact. Now, that 
the Mexican conquest is as good as finished, it may be reasonably 
supposed that he will not pause long before taking the further 
necessary step of confirming and securing the dissohition of the 
Union. If this Confederacy is conquered, his Mexican labor is in 
vain. By his usual manoeuvres he has been gradually approachino" 
the American quarrel for the past six months. The first indication 
was given, as customary with him, at the New Year reception, in 
the memorable compliment to the Yankee Minister, noted in these 
columns at the time. The last is the message sent by j\Ir. lioebuck 
to the British Parliament. Tlie advance is so considerable, that the 
coiq) cVttat may perhaps be not far ott'. 



JULY 2%, 18 63. 

About eight months ago, in a speech before the Legislature of 
]N[ississi}>pi, Mr. Davis pronounced the solemn opinion that the war* 
would soon come to an end. About twenty months ago, Mr. Ben- 
jamin, we believe, wrote to New Orleans, then a Confederate city, 
that within sixty days the country would be at peace. In 
Montgomery, at the period of the inauguration of the Confederate 
Government, the opinion which prevailed was that there would be 
no war : and, any one who had the hardihood to express a contrary 
sentiment, became a butt of raillery or the object of suspicion. It 
has been asserted repeatedly, without contradiction, so complete 
was this feeling of security at Montgomery, that only eight thousand 
stand of small-arms were ordered from Furo})e on Government ac- 
count, during the months which intervened before the establishment 
of blockades. Had it not been for a Virginian statesman, then a 
member of Buchanan's cabinet, who entertained a very different opin- 
ion as to the character of the then approaching revolution, an opinion 
which he has on frequent occasions sought since to impress upon 
the country, the South would have been without arms with which ' 
to commence the Avar. 

li" we contrast the determination with which the North has i^rose- 



104 

cuted tlie war with the opinions which the Montgomery politicians 
hekl in regard to its probable character, we shall be mi;ch impressed 
with the prescience or sagacity of those gentlemen. We believe 
JNIr. Stephens declared, in some pnblic speech delivered at the begin- 
ning of the war, that it would be useless to keep great armies in the 
field ; that when a battle was al)out to be fought, onr people could 
quit home for a few days, go and light the battle, and then return 
to their peaceful habitations. 

Sucli have been the amiable and nonchalant sentiments which 
have actuated our rulers from the beginning ; and it was possible, 
on some amiable idea, that the Lincoln Government was at last 
disposed to pacification, that Mr. Stephens Avas lately dispatched to 
Hampton Roads, whence he speedily returned. 

That the men who obtained control of the Confederate Govern- 
ment have constantly entertained these fixed ideas concerning the 
character wliich the war would assume, though not creditable to 
their understanding, is certainly, in a moral point of view, very 
highly creditable to the Southern lieart. Peace men throughout the 
world cannot fail to undei'Stand from this absolute incredulity of our 
public officers Avith respect to the war, not only that they did not 
desire the conflict, but did not expect it, or have any part in bringing 
it on. Every additional month's continuance of it has been a dis- 
appointment to them; every new development of it into larger pro- 
jiortions and darker colors has been a surprise. In the outset of 
the conflict, when we could have invaded the Xorth, we stood on 
the defensive from a desire felt by our Government not to excite a 
war feeling in our enemies ; and lately in carrying invasion to their 
own doors, we purchased our supplies at fair prices, in the hope, by 
thus heaping coals of fire on their heads, to excite some contiition 
for the barbarities they have committed in our own confines, and 
dispose them to jjeace. 

The strange and fierce contrast to this amiable Southern feeling 
which the Northern Government has exhibited in its conduct of tlie 
war, presents a subject of serious reflection. Much as they have 
sufiered, the Southern people scarcely yet realize with what fero- 
cious determination the North originally embarked upon, have con- 
tinued to carry on, and are still bent upon prosecuting this war. 
Ilefusing to learn by experience, and apparently incapable of realizing 
a fact demonstrated by the most potential evidence, there is a senti- 
ment even now pervading the Southern community that the war 
maybe mitigated by forbearance, or perhaps concluded by negotiation. 
It is a vain delusion. The worst is all before us. We have not 
yet reached the grapple of the conflict; the fatal and deadly blows 
are yet to be struck; the last stage of passion, exhaustion, and pain- 
ful agony is yet to be passed. The North is as full of poison as a 
nest of vipers. It expects to conquer and subdue \i>> for the purpose 
of executing or imprisoning one portion of the people, exiling another, 
"beggaring the rest, filling their ])laces in the land with their own 
set. Itiots and seditions will ])erhaps intensify this purpose of the 
majorit}^ These disturbances do but hasten and precipitate their 
leading object. It gives them an excuse for inaugurating a reign of 



105 

terror at homo in orcler the Letter to prosecute tlieir truculent tie- 
signs upon the South. Peaceful sentiments and overtures on our 
side are worse tlian vain ; they only imply a trifling imbecility in 
our councils. 

The United States have, and do offer, one only species of peace 
to "rebels": lay down your arms and submit unconditionally, first 
to the armies, and then to the enforcement of the hiws on treason 
and confiscation. That is to say, peace by negotiation is essentially 
the same thing as pea^e by actual conquest, with the additional cruel- 
ties which cowards never fail to inflict on those who they knoAv to 
be greater cowards than them>elves. The first consequence of either 
peace would be the division of tlie Yankee armies, now consolidated 
at certain points, into small bodies, which would be posted in every 
city, tOAvn, village, country seat, and rural neighborhood of all the 
Southern States. The States themselves would be at once converted 
into Territories, placed imder military governors, military tribmials, 
and military police. These would immediately abolish the relation 
of master and slave, and seize the n<?groes to work for the profit of 
the Northern Government, or to build prisons and foi'tifications in 
convenient places. Then would follow the usual procedures of the 
Butlers and the Andy Johnsons, till the country was "pacified," and 
till the "courts of the United States," that is to say, the judges of 
New England, were ready to open their sessions and "enforce the 
laws." What the laws of the United States in regard to the people 
of the Confederate States are, we have often explained. One of their 
operations will be the sentence of death by hanging for a hundred 
or so thousand of honest men. The more pvoniinent among them 
would be executed; the sentence in the majority of cases v»^ould be 
commuted to the penitentiary. Then the law of property strips 
every man who has aiiled ov countenanced the Southern Confederacy 
of every dollar's worth of real and personal property he h:is. It 
would be enforced ; without an exception or an omission ; for the 
Yankees want our money, want our lands, want our houses, want 
our fui'niture, our clothes, down to the shirt of every man and the 
petticoat of every woman. The law gi\ es all — they will take all, if 
the day comes to re-open the courts of the United States in these 
regions. Happy will be the man who shall have gotten in his grave 
before that day. These are the plain, straight, sure consequences of 
the only treaty of peace with the North, other than that which shall 
secure the independent existence of the Southern Confederacy. They 
will not be aggravated in the least by resistance to the last extremity. 
Quite the contrary. A brave, powerful, fierce man is respectfully 
treated even in chains ; who knows but a smack too many, or an un- 
lucky kick might make him break the chain or catch his tormentor 

by a limb and then ! But a cringing, abject creature, who 

could fight, but preferred to poke out his wrists for the handcufts — 
who's afraid to spit in his face, feel in his pockets, or make him pull 
oft' his breeches ? 

Negotiation with the Yankee is a delusion and a snare. Blow 
for blow, life for life, battle after battle on every foot of the soil, are 



106 

the only good dealings between the Southern Confederacy and the 
United States. War, pushed to the last extremity, is the resolution 
of the South. By it, ultimate victory is secure. Our strength is 
unbroken, our force unexhausted. Territory occupied by the enemy 
signifies nothing while our armies keep the field. 

The British ran over every high road of this country ; penetrated 
every neighborhood, plundered every city and town to the Gulf — 
btit lost the game. Their successors in tyranny will lose like them, 
unless the descendants of those who lived "in the times that tried 
men's souls " have infamously degenerated. 



JULY 31, 1863. 

Those blessed persons who expected nothing from England are 
filled to-day. Periodically there is a fuss in the British Parliament 
over the Southern Confederacy. It is time that this farce should 
tire the audience. We have no worse enemies in the world than the 
British Government and the majority of the British nation. Not 
that they are friends of the North. They hate the whole American 
people and gloat on their ruin. All their diplomacy has been, and 
will ever be, employed to prolong the war, by preventing the inter- 
ference of any other nation. 

The South never had, and never will have, reason to expect aught 
but evil from Great Britain. But in no event need any one expect 
Great Britain to do any thing more than intrigue in this or any other 
imbroglio. She will not only never go to war, but will not take any 
step that may 2>ossibly involve a future appeal to arms. In judging 
that country, one fact should never be lost sight of — that, in the 
present generation, it is the most peaceably inclined of all nations. 
The British people of our day have been educated into a horror of 
war as the most costly of all extravagances. Napoleon defined the 
English to be a nation of shopkeepers. The definition was then but 
partially true — and they convinced him of it before they were done 
with him. The British was once a combative as well as a mercan- 
tile race. But it is no longer so. Many wars have saddled it with 
an immense debt, and thus weighted all its movements with enor- 
mous taxation. The people who live in those islands have been taught 
that wars mean taxes. They pay the price of their ancestors' glory, 
and have fixed deep in their hearts the conviction that glory costs 
more than it is worth. A ministry that a])pears to keep the nation out 
of the ring where broken heads are plenty, and brickbats flying 
around, will always find itself on the strong side, and never have the 
least difficulty in settling the Roebucks and their like. 

But France is a very difl'erent entity. The French, too, have 
had their wars. But they have not swallowed the opiate of a na- 
tional debt. From time to time, France has coolly repudiated its 
debt, and neither this or any other generation of Frenchmen are 
deaf to the voice of active ambition. To be popular in France, the 



107 

vuler for the time must bestir himself, must enlarge the sphere of 
French influence, and treat the people to a dish of carjiage now nud 
then. Kapoleon is wise in his generation. He knows better than 
the liols l-lii/ita/its. Even if he had not Mexico, it would be rea- 
sonable to look for his finger in the American pie. But the posses- 
sion of Mexico appears to render his interference compulsory, when- 
ever it shall become evident that this Confederacy will cease to exist 
without it. 

A new throne is about to be erected, whose occupant shall be the 
puppet of France; that Idee Kapoleonienne which has already been 
once embodied in a kingdom of Italy and Victor Emanuel, is to re- 
ceive a new shape, habitation and name on the American continent. 
But it will soon turn to airy nothing again — that throne will prove 
an unsteady seat, that crown will be a fragile head-dress, that sceptre 
will break like a reed, on the day when the subjugation of the South 
shall be completed and the power of the United States be restored. 
To prevent this consummation is now a political necessity for the 
master of France. 



A UGUST 5, 1863. 
" OlIE ! JAM SATIS !" 

The present crisis of affairs in the Confederacy not only sanctions, 
but imperatively demands the closest, most searching inspection by 
the people, and' the prompt institution of rigid reforms by their 
representatives. It is useless and childish to attempt to disguise 
the f\ict that gross official blunders and culpable negligence, long- 
continued, have brought the country, within the last few months, un- 
der very great misfortune. Upon whose shoulders should the weiglit 
of a nation's just indignation be laid ? 

When the disastrous results of the battle of Corinth, glaringly , 
published the incapacity of General Van Dorn to properly handle \ 
the Army of the Mississippi, which the doting fondness of Mr. Davis 
had intrusted to his management, the people insisted upon an imme- 
diate change of officers, and all eyes turned upon General Price for 
the command. Why was he not placed in it ? Simply because the 
President entertained a personal disinclination to him. To the pro- 
found chagrin of the country, General Pemberton was created lieu- 
tenant-general, and ordered to the Department of the Mississippi. 
Ominous forebodings accompanied him as he travelled thither. 
Though discontented, we hoped for the best and awaited the result. 
Very soon it became painfully apparent, to even the most obtuse, 
that the general whom South Carolina distrusted, because of his 
course at Charleston, was rapidly wrecking the fortunes of the West. 
His incapacity and ill-luck could not be concealed by his fussiness; 
distrustful mutterings filled the land. What did these, together 
with accumulated warning, protestation, and pleading avail ? Serene 
upon the frigid heights "of an infallible egotism sat Mr. Davis, 



108 

wrapped in suLlime self-complacency, turning a deaf car to all, and 
resolved to maintain his protege, though the cause should sustain 
irremediable injury. The result provccl the su])erior wisdom of the 
masses and the culpable obstinacy of the President. It has been said 
of him by one who knew him well : " He jirides himself on never 
changing his mind ; and popular clamor against those who possess 
his favor only knits him more stubbornly to them," of the truth of 
which assertion the retention of Mai lory is a painful exemplification. 
There is nn old Spanish adage which might with jxistice be quoted 
here : "A wise man sometiuies changes his mind, but ,"&c. 

Vicksburg fell, through an improvidence for which there exists not 
the shadow of ptdliation. Either General Pemberton is a traitor, or 
so completely incai)able that he was unfit, not merely for the com- 
mand of Vicksburg, but for any command requiring forethought. 
Upon one or the other horn of the dilemma he must inevitably be 
gored. Yet even now, in the midst of the disasters necessarily in- 
cident to his conduct, the country is disposed to credit the charge 
of incompetence rather than accuse him of treachery. Who is 
responsible for the loss of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the sacking 
of .Jackson, and the devastation of Mississippi ? Mr. Davis, alone — 
for retaining in commnnd a man who, the whole, country foreknew, 
months ago, would ruiji that State, which protested against him. 
The apologists of the President have attempted to cast the blame on 
General Johnston, and to blacken the hard- \\- on reputation of the 
ablest strategist in the Confederacy. The people, clinging fondly 
and proudly to their old battle-scarred favorite, pointing to Richmond, 
angrily proclaim: " iVoif General Johnston, but Mr. Davis is to 
blame.'''' Unfortunately General Johnston is not ubiquitous ; he was 
set to watch two men in different sections, neither of whom could 
be trusted in matters involving military acumen or strategy. If he 
left General Bragg to himself, blunders were immediately committed ; 
if he left General Pemberton M'ith orders to collect provision and 
ammunition, and sped to Tullahoma, to rectify errors, lo ! Vicksburg 
is starved out. All that human skill could devise, and human energy 
accomplish, the people believe that General Johnston did ; and they 
cannot be hoodwinked, deluded or persuaded to cast one iota of 
blame upon him. They know where the responsibility belongs, 
and there they are determined it shall rest. Despite the sneers of 
Absolutists and of those who incline to military dictatorship, vox 
POPUTJ, vox Dei. / 

The people are wearyof the flagrant mismanagement of the Gov- 
ernment. The spirit of resistance is rs strong as ever, and the 
devotion to our cause as fervent and unsliaken ; but we are disgusted 
and disheartened at the course pursued by the Administration. But 
people have waited and hoped for a change, deeming in inexpedient 
to complain publicly, until the abuses and grievances have grown 
colossal and national patience is exhausted. Look beyond the Mis- 
sissippi ! What a humiliating spectacle meets the eye? Missouri 
utterly abandoned to her persecutors; while Missouri's troops, which 
never surrendered before, were made to stack their arms by order 



109 

of General Peinberton. A large portion of Arkansas OA'crrun, simply 
because Mr Davis's jjrolego No. 2 — General Holmes — is kept in com- 
mand, despite the prayers of the State and the irrepressible com- 
plaints of the army. If General Holmes be not in his dotage, the 
English language possesses no synonym to indicate his stupidity 
and inertia. 

Will no one who has the Presidential ear render the Confederacy 
a service by reminding him of the celebrated anecdote of Louis XII., 
Avhich he must have read when he studied Yattel ? That monarch 
Avas urged to prosecute an old, personal feud, but he sternly and 
indignantly replied: "The King of France does not avenge the 
injuries of the Duke of Orleans." Had the people dreamed that Mr. 
Davis would carry all his chronic antipathies, his bitter prejudices, 
his puerile partialities, and his doting favoritisms into the Presi- 
dential chair, they would never have allow^ed him to fill it. Little 
did they imagine that some of our noblest, purest patriots, greatest 
statesmen and ablest generals would be immolated to the obscure 
hati'eds of provincial politics, or the forgotten quarrels of the War 
Department at Washington. Lie seems to have mastered but one 
axiom of Machiavelli : " The dissensions of individ.uals contribute to 
the Avelfare of the State." 

Mr. Davis has alienated the hearts of the people by his stubborn 
follies, and the injustice he has heaped upon some whom they 
i-egarded as their ablest generals and truest friends. The people 
do not share in his chronic hallucination that he is a great military 
genius, and can direct the campaigns in distant States with unerring 
skill. They would rather trust Generals Beauregard and Johnston, 
Ewell, Price, Kirby Smith, Breckinridge and G. W. Smith, and 
would be better pleased if he w^ould employ himself in correcting 
evils near his own door : namely, the mismanagement of the Post- 
Oflice Department, the depreciation of the currency, and the gigan- 
tic mischief resulting from the present system of blockade-running. 

The country is not discouraged by federal advances, but we 
know that, unless the errors of the past are promptly corrected, the 
future holds no promise. God forbid that our fair and beloved land 
should be ruined by our own mal-administration, or that our people 
shoiild lack the proper energy and independence to teach their Ex- 
ecutive that he is their servant, not their master — their instrument, 
not their dictator. 



AUGUST 7, 1863. 
/ 
The army of the Confederacy contains the best and the worst of j 
its population. The wisest heads, the noblest hearts, the strongest * ' 
hands wliich this country aftbrds, are in that organization. They 
are not always officers. Many of the purest and brightest spii'its 
are in the ranks ; men who have entered the army not from selfish- 
ness or vainglory, but truly to help their dear country ; men who 
have sought no promotion, shirked no duty ; Avho have borne 



110 

fatigue, borne rough usage, endured every privation ; who have not 
don'e this as " high private," but as " common soklier." When 
this war is over, these men will be rewarded by a degree of respect, 
an esteem, a love, from all who know them, which no officer under 
a commanding general who has won victories, can hope to have, or 
can possibly deserve. 

But by "the side of these, the truest heroes the sun ever saw, are 
many of the lowest scoundrels that disgrace humanity. A moment's 
reflection is enough to satisfy even those who do not know the army 
by experience, that the fact must be so. An army gathered as ours 
has been, is a great drag-net, that collects the dregs as well as the 
brightest ornaments of society. Mischief is done by indiscriminate, 
fulsome laudation of every thing that calls itself a soldier. On the 
real soldier the country should, and will, shower its blessings and 
rewards. But he must be the real soldier; he who remains at his 
post ; he who asks few furloughs, and is never absent without leave ; 
who never straggles on the march; who does not skulk from the 
fire; who is seen in the ranks of the army or in the hospital, but 
never at home; never in the wayside house; never in the cities, 
unless with a broken limb. To him be honor and reward ; the re- 
spect of man and the love of woman ; the first places of the nation 
will be his by right when his work shall be finished — not before, 
and not otherwise. 

But what is the due of those wretches who straggle to rob and 
beg; who skulk or are sickly at every pinch ; who are visible here, 
there, and everywhere, except in their companies when the roll is 
called ? Are they entitled to any part of the consideration due to 
their comrades in the camp ? Is it not a cruel robbery of the brave 
and true to call them soldiers ? Their name is deserter, the vilest 
of malefactors ! As such they should be treated by every man, and 
every woman, and every child, every civil and every military func- 
tionary. The house that gives such a one shelter is disgraced. 
Those who feed them, harbor them, or who, knowing of them, do 
not promptly inform the proper authority, partake of their crime, 
and stab their country. 

The President and General Lee tell us that if all these shameful 
creatures were in their places, doing their duty, our armies would at 
this moment be numerically superior to the enemy. If the absent, 
the skulking, the stragcrling, were driven back to their duty, there 
would be no need for further tinkering Avith the conscription law' or 
new drafts on the countiy. Those who are at home because of age, 
or occupation, or condition, can do much towards accomplishing 
that great object. But it is the proper administration of the military 
laws, it is the strong hand of the Government, that can alone deal 
effectually with this matter. A plaintive proclamation is not the 
measure which the case requires. An amnesty for the past w^ill do 
more harm than good, unless acconijianied by prompt, terrible, and 
invariable punishment for the least dereliction, or an hour's absence, 
in the future. Of what avail are eloquent appeals to men, the most 
of whom are destitute of the first rudiments of education, or devoid 



Ill 

of a single spark of honesty, courage or patriotism ? Tiie only cui'e 
for desertion is the death penalty; and if the Government and its 
generals would seize every opportunity to shoot and hang these 
men ; if they would cajiture them as malefactors, try them at the 
drum's head, and put them to death Avithout mercy, they would 
perform only the first duty of military authority, and they would 
soon cease to have reason to complain of skeleton regiments or 
nominal briirades. 



AUGUST 12, 18Q3. 

The legislature of Virginia will be convened in extra session, 
to take into consideration the measures necessary for the defence of 
the State. No one will object that such a session of the legislature 
is unnecessary. If a legislature is a useful branch of government 
at any time, certainly now is that time. If there is a fault in the 
meeting of the General Assembly, it lies in the need of calling it 
together. It never should have adjourned. 

The same remarks maybe made with double force upon the indo- 
lent Congress of the Confederate States. The members of that body 
should also be in their seats, or in the ranks of the army. They 
should work in one way or the other. Congress should not have 
adjourned while every day teems with new events, requiring the im- 
mediate consideration and action of the representatives of the na- 
tion ; but, as they have dispersed and will not meet again for four 
long months, it is the duty of the Confederate Executive to convene 
them in special session without delay. 

Are there not matters requiring the immediate interposition of the 
law-making power, and the promj^t application of the remedial au- 
thority of the whole Government ? What of the currency ? Is it 
to wait four months for some effectual surgery ? Will it wait ? 

If any thing is ^lalpably true, it is that the Ctmfederate Congress 
should at this moment be doing, or endeavoring to do, something to 
check the decline in Confederate paj^er, sinking under its own 
weight and the joint pressure of blockade-runners and the brokers, 
the dealers in gold who have the strongest of human motives to in- 
crease the disparity of the relative value of gold and Confederate 
notes. The present laws are manifestly insufficient for the magni- 
tude of the evil and its causes. It was, indeed, easily foreseen that 
they would prove insufficient when they were made. Their intention 
was good ; they were steps in the right direction ; but they were half- 
measures, palliatives, which do not cut th^ root of mischief If Con- 
gress were now in session, it is believed that it would no longer 
hesitate. It would see the worthlessness of the complex, involved, 
and timid financial system of laws which it invented, and laboriously 
brought forth last winter ; and would resort now to those simple 
provisions which alone can render the Confederate currency ade- 
quate to the maintenance of the country. It would put a stop to the 
trade in gold ; it Avould shut up that grcU drain on the country's 



112 

vitals, the practice of smuo^gling luxuries into the land from the 
NorlliL'rn States, which are jDaicl for in cash or its equivalent. It 
M'ouUl render compulsory the funding of the myriads of Confederate 
notes extant. It would boldly draw from the people all the money 
that it needed by an equal and rigorously collected taxation. It 
would retrench the sinecui^es and lop off the useless parts of that 
expensive machine called the Confederate Government : a machine 
with the like of which our forefathers did not encumber themse^ives 
in the successful struggle for independence of "76. 

These, or similar measures equally decisive, Congress might adopt 
now^, if it had remained in session to watch the march of evenis, or 
if it should meet at this moment. If not now, certainly in some 
brief period, the exigencies of this Avar will force Congress and the 
Executive on a more decisive and energetic course than they have 
hitherto pursued. But even if we are mistaken in thinking thus, we 
can scarcely suppose that any serious person will dispute the propri- 
ety of a continual session of the legislative branches of the State 
and Confederate GoAxrnments during this struggle for life. Com- 
posed mostly of the ex-members of the old Federal Congress, the 
politicians, to whom the people intrusted their business, have not 
yet gotten rid of the idea that their pi-esent position and duty is but 
a continuation of the life they led at Washington. But ihey will be 
forced to forget the habits and jtractices of tliat.life by the dangers 
which now encircle them. The Confederate Congress has functions 
to perform very different from those of the body which held a short 
session and a long session in the house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Its 
true prototypes are the Senate of Kome when the Gauls besieged 
the city, the Long Parliament of England, the Perpetual Convention 
of France, and the Continental Congress of the revolted colonies. 
When did those bodies have their comfortable " recess ?" 



AUGUST 24, 1863. 

Fast days and Thanksgiving days strike the Southern ear with 
a puritanical sound, always disagreeable, and, now, pre-eminently 
hateful. They smack of Latter Day sanctity ; savor of the nasal 
twang and recall disagreeable reminiscences of Praise-God-Barebones, 
the Pilgrim Fathers, and their Yankee descendants. 

National i-espect for religion and acknowledgment of the over- 
ruling hand of the Deity are consecrated by immemorial usage and 
natural instinct. Supplication in the horn- of adversity, and Te 
Deums in the exultation of victory, are quite the correct thing, 
whether judged by the promptings of natural religion or the exam- 
ple of earthly potentates. The Roman legion marched confidently 
to victory, after the victims had promised the favor of the immor- 
tal gods ; the Spanish infantry of the Middle Ages serried their 
iron ranks with the cry of Santiago, nor did the Protestant English 
meet them with a less assured trust in the protection of Heaven. 



113 

Some mode of invokino; liio-]ier than luiinan aid is common to all 
ao;es and nations. Tlie Turk ruslies to tlie breacli, with the shout 
of " AHah Akhar," not less fervently than the Crusader Avith the 
cry of " Holy Cross.'' The late Czar Nicholas ordered many mani- 
festations of piety during the Crimean war; while Sebastopol was 
besieged, he always ro.le out with a large cross suspended on his 
breast, and would frequently stopuhis horse in the streets to ejacu- 
late passages from the penitential psalms. And Pelissier, while re- 
garding the assault of the IVIalakoff, was heard .to utter various 
remarks of a theological chai^acter, especially when any of his troojjs 
evinced " a foolish hankering after existence." Nothing could ex- 
ceed the religion of the Austrian Government during the Italian 
war. The Em])eror and all his coni't happened to be walking at the 
head of a huge procession through the streets of Vienna on the very 
day when the battle of ifagenta was unexpectedly fought. Napo- 
leon and Victor Emanuel, it is true, restrained their devotional 
ardor till some months later. 

It is well that the Confederacy should display a trust in Divine 
aid, ingrained, as it undoubtedly is, in the hopes, the thoughts, and 
the progress of the people, as well as approved, by the universal 
])ractice of the Avorld. Still, it is to be regretted that the phrase- 
ology wo use should be unfortunately associated Avith all that is re- 
pugnant to our taste and our feelings. It is one of the many conse- 
quences of our long intercourse with the Puritan members of the 
late Union. They, by the way, do not seem now to rely on fasts 
and humiliation. They have recently indulged in thanksgiving for 
victory, but their 2:)anaeea for defeat seems to be fresh levies of men, 
more ironclads and additional fifteen-inch guns. Otherwise, Lincoln 
& Co. steadfastly ignore defeats. 

It may be that the sanctimonious terminology derived from the 
Yankees should not be allowed to militate against a custom laudable 
in itself, but there are other accessories more deserving of protest and 
reprehension. One of the most serious political, moral, and social 
curses which afflicted the Union and precipitated its downfall was 
the prevalence of political preachers. It was a much easier and 
more inviting road to wealth and fame to mingle in political strife, 
and to agitate the questions of the hour, than to inculcate the pre- 
cepts of charity, or to expound the doctrines of the Gospel. A man 
of good presence, easy elocution, and redundant vocabulary, could 
readily fill his church and his pockets by stimulating the vagaries of 
fanaticism and hunting noA^elties for the popular taste. It was both 
easier and more lucrative than to pjlod through the su.btleties of 
ecclesiastical lore, or to seek to guide the Avayw^ard public in the 
narrow })ath of reason and virtue. 

" The pulpit, that safe and sacred organ of sedition," has often 
been used for political purposes, but never so habitually, nor to 
such an extent, as among the Northern States during the lifetime of 
the now defunct Union. It descended into the arena of faction and 
courted the lowest breath of popular applause. Homilies on slavery 



114 

and snnctimonious arrogation of superior virtue, both tickled the 
vanity aud pleased the taste of Yankee hearers. 

There are indications that the South is not free from this dangerous 
malady. That in times of high excitement the clergy should share 
the feelings of the community is natural ; and it may be difficult to 
prevent all confusion of earthly and heavenly considerations in pious 
discourses; yet the nature of our government, wisely adverse to the 
union of the secular and the religious arm, forbids it, and our respect 
for the priestly character tells us that it is rather their duty to soften 
the passions aroiised in the contests of the world, and withdraw our 
thoughts from their fevered excitement, than to stimulate them by 
passionate discourses. 

This revolution should secure us social as well as political independ- 
ence. We should get rid of Yankee manners as well as of Puritan 
laws ; and one of the most obnoxious is the vice of political preaching. 
Let the Southern clergy, then, be assured that they will win more 
lasting respect, and exert more legitimate influence, in abstaining 
from a custom discordant to our manners. Let them inculcate 
virtue, stinuilate patriotism, and expound Christianity, but let them 
argue from universals and trust the good sense of their hearers to 
make the a2>plication to particulars. Let them, in their clerical 
capacity, confine themselves to the holy province whose separation 
from temporal interests is alike conducive to sound religion and 
good government. Let the purity of the priestly robe not be 
sullied by the mire of the furious struggles of daily life. Let our 
preachers, in imitation of the Divine Founder of Christianity, utter 
their meaning by typical language, conveying unchanging princi- 
ples of ready application to the purposes of life. The persuasive 
influences of unobtrusive piety will be more beneficial than the 
vehemence of sensation sermons. Let us not have the Southern 
pulpit converted into a rostrum for political harangues, or a lecture- 
room for the dissemination of peculiar philosophical tenets. Let 
not our preachers discourse of Lincoln, or of Seward, of Davis, or of 
Lee. Let them fulminate against Pharoah and Ilolofernes, and 
exalt Gideon and David. We have broken asunder from Yankee 
statesmanshi]) and government ; let us eschew their morality and 
manners. We have lowered the portcullis and manned the battle- 
ments against the assaults of Seward, Greeley and Lovejoy. Great 
will be our moi-tification and sorrow if Beecher aud Cheever should 
slip iu by the postern. 



A UGUST 25, 1863. 

TtECONSTRucTiON of the Union has been, and still is, one of the cries 
and catch-words in the North. There are persons in the South, 
quite sincere in patriotism, who are nevertheless injudicious and 
credulous enough to believe that something might be done to heep 
the cause of their country by encouraging that cry in the North, and 
by entering into some species of conference with the party who use it, 



115 

to ascertain wliat tliey mean Ly reconstniction. Such necfotiatidns, 
they doubtless intend, shall be in the nature of pious frauds. They 
propose to distract and divide the enemy. In a word, they propose 
a ffame of cheating Avith Yankees. In such a game, played by such 
parties, who would be the loser ? When have North and South 
ever dealt in this way that the North has not been the successful 
cheater, the South invariably cheated? Trust the experience of all 
your lives, men of the South, and say as few words as possible to 
the enem3^ Especially, say nothing that you are not prepared to 
perform. Our own people will always believe their leaders (juite in 
earnest. Tliey will take them at their word ; and the moment that 
negotiations are begun, they will believe the independence of the South 
to be an abandoned cause. 

What terms any minority in the United States would be willing 
to give the South if its people would lay down their arms and sub- 
mit, it is not worth while to inquire. What terms the Government 
of the United States would give us are authentically and certainly 
known. Those terms are declared in the laws of that country, and 
would be executed through its military and civil courts. What 
terms the people of the United States would grant us, have been 
shadowed forth by the treatment individual citizens of the South 
have invariably received when in their power. 

'No doubt can be felt by any creature not an idiot, that if the 
Government of the United States believed for a moment it could 
persuade by promises, proclamations, words of any kind, the armies 
of the South to disband, the Confederacy to disorganize, and its ,_,. 
citizens to take oaths of allegiance, that it would spare those words. ^ 
To conquer the South without fighting has been the great desidera- 
tum of that Government and people from the beginning of the w^ar 
until this time. This prime object would be in a fair way of attain- 
ment if the Southern States, or any portion of their citizens, would 
enter into negotiation with the Northern States, or any portion of their 
citizens, on such a subject-matter as reconstruction of the Union. 
Cheating might then begin — gammon would have a chance — thousands 
of promises kept to the ear and broken to the hope could then be 
heard and have their fatnl effect on the w^eary, the cowardly, the 
base. There is but one only means of preventing the United States, 
people, politicians, parties or Government, whatever their promises, 
from carrying out their cruel purposes ; those means we are using, 
not with all the success we could desire ; but with enough to pre- 
vent that utter destruction which would be the certain and immediate 
consequence of the abandonment of their usage. So long as the i 
Southern Confederacy can keep an army in the field, it is a belligerent.^ 
The Southern people are still entitled to such protection as the laws 
of war can give ; Southern soldiers still prisoners of war when taken 
captive. They have not to blush, to cringe, to tremble and to hide. 
But the moment this war shall end without securing the independ- 
ence of the Confederacy, every Southern soldier is converted into 
a felon; that must be the legal status of all who have borne arms 



116 

anfciinst the Union. Thero is no escape or evasion of it, or any of 
the shame, the loss, the misery that accompanies that condition. 

Even if snbju2fation were a moral certainty, every honr Ihrongh 
which the figlit conkl be continued, wouki be an honr of relief and 
life. But no people ever were subjugatel, no people ever can be 
snbjuo-ated, who will not submit. The South will never submit; 
and, simple as the people are, they can never be bamboozled into a 
belief that "reconstruction" is aught else than submission. The 
very mention of negotiations about a reconstruction of the Union 
is an insult to the humblest understanding. The_ state of things 
which existed ten years ago can never be again on this continent. 
The most foolish, the most ignorant, can see that. But even were 
it possible, what man is base enough to be willing, for his own good, 
to restore the " Union as it was ?" Even the meanest has some regard 
for friends and kindred. Two hundred thousand of our finest young 
men have lost life or limb in this war. They shed their blood, they 
risked and lost their lives under the impression that they were doing 
an honorable and rightful thing, — that they w^ere fighting fok 
TiiEiK couxTRY ! Their fathers, their Avives, their children, are 
proud to say, my son was killed at Gettysburg, my husband fell at 
Richmond, my father, my brother, my uncle was one of the brave 
men who bled for the land in the great war. But what were all 
those persons if the Union never has been dissolved — if the Con- 
federacy is an illegal combination — if its " so-called " laws have no 
authority ? There is no uncertainty — they were criminals, traitors. 
Their graves are dishonorable graves. Tl)ey did not fight for their 
country. They fought against their country. They lifted up 
parricidal and sacrilegious hands against that thing which every 
good man was bound to protect. They did not kill enemies, but 
committed murder on their fellow-citizens. Their names must be 
disgraced, their memory a memory of shame to all .their posterity, 
friends and relations. Is there any man so mean and poor of heart 
as to be willing to reward the friend, the son, the father, the cousin, 
who has fought for him and his, with that ignominy? Perish 
all things ; perish all together, rather than so desert, so betray the 
generous and the unfortunate. 



SEPTEMBER 7, 18 63. 

Whether ferocity, folly, or beastly vulgarity is the predominating 
characteristic of the monstrous utterance with which Lincoln, the 
Yahoo President, to-day insults the human kind is a question not easily 
decided. That such a creature should be the chief figure in such a 
period; that this compound of brute and bufibon should be master 
of the situation in one of the most awful convulsions remembered 
by history; is a fact not indeed unparalleled, but of rare occurrence. 
Cromwell was a joker, and Ctesar a filthy man ; but they kept their 
jests and their lusts in chambers, and displayed their stupendous 



117 

abilities and terrible power to the world. But the rjeprescntative 
Man of t!ie model i-epublic and its revolution delights to display the 
proportions of his mind and the qualities of his heart undisguised, 
in official paj^ers, as in bar-room talks. 

" Nor must Uncle Sam's noble fleet be forgotten," says tlie o-rog- 
shop President. "At all the water's margins^hey have been present. 
Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, the rapid river, but also 
up the narrow, muddy bayou, and icherever the [/round xcas a little 
dcanp, they have been and made their trac/cs.''^ 

Shade of Washington ! is this thy successor ? Can this be the 
man in whose hand rest tlie resources of the United States, and who 
controls a million of sohliers ? Nero, Claudius, Marat, even if they 
were what Tacitus and Thiers describe, would have blushed for this. 
Sancho, wlieu ruler of the island Bai-ataria, would scarcely have 
written a letter parallel in style to that from which this passage is 
quoted. 

Yet the reader will not smile, and disgust will vanish before 
stronger sentiments, when he has reflected on the intent and pros- 
pect revealed in this degraded language. Lincoln pi'opounds as 
fact, which none of his race deny, or doubt, that he is invested with 
what he calls the " law of war." This law of war is explained by 
him to mean the right nnd power of inflicting mdimited injury 
on the Southern people. "A few things," it is true, are considered 
" barbarous," and he will refrain from doing them. What is it he 
will refrain from? " The massacre of non-combatants male and 
female.'''' This is the point at which he will stop. He will not 
order the extermination of Southern women, or the slaughter of 
little children. All short of that the ruler of the North intends to 
do. Every particle of property, real and personal, is the prize of 
the victors, and, what they cannot take, he will " destroy." Such 
is the future of the Avar. Such is the man of destiny. 



SEFTEMBER 15, 1863. 

While it is perfectly obvious that the whole Yankee nation 
look upon the operations of the French in Mexico Avith a rage all 
the more bitter on account of its impotence, it is equally clear that 
their own condition imperatively forbids any course of action likely 
to embroil them with so formidable a power as France. The "great 
rebellion " demands all their attention and oA'ertasks all their re- 
sources. The bluster of their journals and the rhodomontade of 
their demagogues are insufticicnt to conceal this fact from the world, 
or even to disguise it to themselves Avhen suddenly brought face to 
face w^ith imminent danger, and forced to grapple with a question of 
practical importance. In such a case they will at once perceive 
the prudence of abstaining from measures likely to pi'oduce hostili- 
ties, although they lack the dignity to suppress the ebullition of spite. 

Napoleon has well chosen his time. The last three years liave 



118 

afForclod the United States many opportunities for the cultivation 
of the Christian virtues, forbearance and humility. Their vanity 
has met with hitter disappointment at the hands of the Confederacy, 
and their pride has been forced to stomach grievous mortitication 
in their intercourse with European powers. It may fairly be pre- 
sumed that they have profited by their experience, and, that on an 
occasion demanding an unusual degree of self-control, they will rise, 
(or sink) with the emergency. To direct a foreign policy exacting- 
such sacrifices of pride, no one could be found endowed with more 
suitable qualities than their Secretary of State. An impassibility of 
temperament and a callousness to insult, rarely to be paralleled, fit 
him admirably for a diplomacy where swaggering menace is to be 
followed by prompt abasement, and where a shallow cunning and 
disino-enuous deception, in wliich he has had the practice of a life- 
time, are considered an adequate substitute for grasp and compre- 
hensiveness of intellect. During his long service in the United States 
Senate, and in the imperturbability shown by him amid the most ex- 
citing scenes of angry debate and sectional discord, he was learning 
a lesson, useful for the conduct of foreign affairs in a crisis which 
demands the sacrifice of all the most cherished feelings, the most 
susceptible jealousies, and the most vital interests of the Yankee 
nation. 

The intense humiliation of our enemies is gratifying to the South- 
ern people. Their own immediate interests, however, as well as 
the boundless prospects of the future, afford scope for serious reflec- 
tion. Every age has its different forms of cant. In the present, 
popular rights and sovereignty of race are the fashionable themes, 
even for absolute potentates. Napoleon III. proclaimed to the 
world, when he was at Milan after the victory of Magenta, " that if 
there were men who did not comprehend the spirit of the age, he was 
not of the number." He readily -comprehends that the tendency of 
the Avorld at present is to accomplish by indirection and contriv- 
ance what simpler ages performed with undisguised force. 

The establishment of a sovereignty, dependent wpon France, upon 
our southern frontier, is replete with questions of the gravest interest 
for this Confederacy. They would demand the most patient inves- 
tif^ation and the most jealous care in ordinary times, but, in this 
crisis of our fate, when we are struggling for mere existence, ques- 
tions for future policy must necessarily be subordinated to the 
momentous issue of the hour. The attainment of independence will 
be the mighty labor of this generation, and we are naturally dis- 
posed to postpone all considerations of the future for the care of our 
successors, and say with Louis XV., " after us the deluge." 



SEPTEMBER 17, 18 63, 



The Yankee Secretary of State has gratified the public with an- 
other of those little interchanges of sentiment with the English 



110 

abolitionists, in wliich he and tlicy liave, from time to time, induloed 
since the beginning of tlie war. A committee of tliese gentry, not 
onl)' extend their good wishes to Seward, but i)romulgate a' little 
philosophy on the character and tendency of the war. While express- 
ing dee]) sympathy in the success of the Yankees, they assert tliat, if 
the South is successful, it will be the first instance of the establishment 
of a government based upon African slavery. Seward accepts this 
idea as if it were a new revelation, and assures his correspondents 
that, to the numerous Aveighty reasons which influence himself and 
his party against the acceptance of the revolution, they have added 
another of decisive weight. 

This great argument w^ith which these people have enlightened 
Seward is simply nonsense. Unless African slavery be, in tlieir 
opinion, a more heinous sin than white slavery, the same objection 
might bo made to the most formidable empires and the most en- 
lightened States of anticpiity, and even to their own institutions aris- 
ing frOm mediaeval serfdom. The truth is, however, that the 
Confederacy is based no more upon African slavery, than upon cot- 
ton, tobacco, rice or Indian corn. It uses and maintains the system 
of labor established in the colonial state, expanded by time and 
favorable development, and it cultivates the products congenial to 
its soil. In both cases it perseveres simply in the plain path of reason 
and experience, content to receive and, if possible, improve the cir- 
cumstances "with which nature and the operations of mankind have 
sui'rounded it. The Southern war for independence is based upon 
the right of a people to alter their government, and to withdraw 
from an association in which vested rights were assailed by blind 
fanaticism, and plunder perpetrated under the guise of canting 
humanity. The domestic institutions of the Southern people are not 
obtruded by them upon the world. They simply defend them- 
selves, and maintain the battle of order and steady progress against 
the wild schemes of rapacity stimulated by a self-sufficient and 
spurious philanthroi^y. 



SEPTEMBER 23, 1863. 

The deep-seated antagonism of two antii^athetic peoples, linked 
together by temporary requirements of political necessity or geo- 
graphical position, under the American Union, was intensified by 
the collision unavoidably springing from their enforced juxtaposition, 
and manifested itself in every mode of expression, from angry in- 
vective to bitter ridicule. For seventy years, repugnance in the 
mode of thought, diversity of social customs, and contrariety of 
manners, displayed their natural efl'ects, until they finally chafed 
asimder the fetters which bound them in discordant alliance. 

We may now look upon the political actions, the literary taste, 
and the manners of our enemies, with as calm a spirit as the excite- 
ment of war will allow. If we read their newspapers, we will find 



120 

tlie same insolent mennce and the same clownish ridicule directed 
to foreign observers who presume to doubt tlie success of their arms, 
or to criticise the policy of their Govemmeiit, that were formerly 
familiar to ourselves as favorite v/eapons in the attack u]>on our 
society and upon our rights. Nor are we forgotten amid the host 
of antagonists that the widely-spread ramifications of the war have 
caused to feel the force of their vituperation. 

Southern chivalry was always a favorite theme of ridicule with 
the§e people. While their heavy artillery of argument and slander 
was directed against our more serious and permanent objects of 
solicitude, the missiles of ridicule were directed against our social 
])eculiarities and domestic aiiections. The attempt to establish a 
more exalted code of manners and a more delicate morality, was 
laughed to scorn as the insolent assumpt on of aflected aristocrats. 
Strict equality Avas, in their opinion, to be secured by the libelling 
process. Those who rose above the dreary uniformity were to be 
reduced to the common standard, instead of attempting to exalt 
those who were below. The lowest propensities of human nature 
were gratified by the systematic depreciation of all aspirations after 
a more elevated ideal, and by the constant derision of the Quixotism 
which refused to regard the market value as the sole standard by 
which to measure the worth of refinement and honoi'. 

Even now, amid the terrible convulsion which shakes the Conti- 
nent, and in presence of the fearful agony of desolate homesteads 
and crushed affections, we are shocked to catch the sound of idiotic 
laughter and apish gibes rising above the wail of broken-hearted 
despair. It is impossible for a man of ordinary feeling, or even of 
correct taste, to read the journals which may be presumed to be 
correct types of the Yankee mind, without profound disgust, and a 
feeling of misanthropic contempt. Is it possible that such beings 
arc not only of our own race, but that, until within a recent j^eriod, 
they were united with us under the same Government ? 

Ividicule is a formidable weapon. In the hands of a Lucian, a 
Swift, or a Voltaire, it may change a religion or overtiirn a govern- 
ment. Its keen edge may be made to strike inveterate abuses or to 
defend the cause of innocence. When it is turned against the 
cherished principles or the lofty aspirations of an entire nation, it 
ceases to be respectable, even if it is tempered by the refinement 
of wit. It is doubly contemptible when the brutality of the ruffian 
is expressed in the language of the cloAvn. The sneers Avith which 
the Yankee journals deride the struggles of a brave i^eople would 
have been equally applicable to the reverses of the men of '76. They 
evince meanness of nature as well as jioverty of invention, and 
their vulgar boasts have, if we may trust the ncAVS from the Y\^est, 
received a fitting reply from the gallant men whom they were 
intended to ridicule. 



121 



SEPTEMBER 2G, 1863. 

The New York Trihune complains that " Appleton's Encyclo- 
paedia," in some articles of current history, speaking of " the rebel- 
lion," " uses the language of the London Times and the Richmond 
Examiner^ The main charges against the Yankee encyclopaedists 
ai"e, that they have styled the people of the South " the Confederates," 
and used the terms "United States" and "Confederate States," in 
speaking of the belligerents, instead of Mr. Greeley's pleasant an- 
tithesis of " the Republic and the Rebellion." 

The criticism appears at first puerile ; but it has really an im- 
portant and curious significance. There can be no real objection to 
our recognition as belligerents. The authorities at Washington 
have long ago conceded this recognition, and the penny-a-liners of 
the Appletons can do no less. But it is remarkable that recently, 
on all possible occasions, in their litei-ature and in their public in- 
tercourse, the abolitionists have deprecated the use of terms which 
imply the distinct character of the people of the South, and have 
been busy in claiming community of race and blood with us. In 
Mr. Sewai-d's recent address to foi-eign courts, he is at especial pains 
to declare to Europe that the manifestations of courage and tenacity 
in this war are to be ascribed to the fact that the belligerents are 
of the same blood and the same mould of American manhood. 

This afiectionate claim of community of race and manners with 
us, and the constant protest against the use of terras which imply 
any natural difference between the Yankee and the Southerner, is 
something new in the war. At the commencement of hostilities, 
"the rebel" was a despised creature, and the Southern slaveholder 
was " hell-born." Now, the prime minister at Washington, and 
the scornful knight of the Tribune^ are anxious to claim kin with the 
infernal progeny. They fiercely resent the assumption that the 
types of manhood or the traits of character in the South are in the 
least different from what they are in New England, and they denounce 
the barest suggestion, even by the use of distinct terms, of any dis- 
similarity between North and South. 

The fact is, that the Yankee has a certain pride in the splendid 
reputation which the South has Avon in this Avar, even though it 
may haA'e been at his sole expense, and hopes to claim some part- 
nership in it through the association of the name of "American," or 
some other common title of nationality. AVe all recollect the 
Yankee encomiums of " Stonewall " Jackson, and the busy advertise- 
ment of Mr. Junkins, that he was father-in-law of the distinguished 
" rebel." These incidents give the clue to the Yankee disposition. 
They are noAV proud to claim kin with the countrymen of Lee and 
Jackson, and to assert a partnership in the glory and applause 
Avhich the South has obtained in this Avar. 

It is scarcely necessary for us to protest against this insolent 
assumption by the Yankee of a common national name and a com- 
mon temper with us. We have had enough in times past of stuff 
9 



122 

aboi;t fraternity, and the ties of " Uncle Sam's " progeny. TTe 
assert tliat the people of this Confederacy are distinct from the 
Yankee in "blood, hi institutions, in ideas, and in all the elements 
of a separate nationality. The war of our independence illustrates 
this fact. Whatever may be its fate, impartial history will, at least, 
separate us from the old titles of the Union, and give us the credit 
of a name and national character distinct from that of the Yankee. 



CTOBER 5, 1863. 

In the opinions of those shrewd observers who are always ex- 
pectant of great events, and who scent in every breath of wind 
indications of change and convulsion, the j^resence of a few Rus- 
sian men-of-war in New York harbor is ominous of an alliance 
between the Czar and the American Dictator. There is no rational 
ground of apprehension that any such combination is about to be 
formed. The sympathies and the interests of the two jjarties, it is 
true, run very much in the same channel. The two despots of the 
West and the East sit grimly regarding each other across the in- 
tervening world, and say God speed to the glorious w^ork of " order " 
in whicirboth are engaged. '"'■ Idem velle atque idem nolle^ea de- 
onumfirma amicitia est,'''' says Sallust ; sympathy in love and hate 
begets a sort of friendship ; and certainly between the Empire of 
Russia and the so-called Republic of the United States there is the 
greatest identity of likes and dislikes. Both have an unlimited 
desire for territorial expansion ; both have an utter antipathy for 
freedom of speech and of the press ; both delight in enormous 
armaments ; have the barbarian love for vastness and display, and 
despise the restraints of law or humanity when opposed to the 
gratification of their washes. At present, too, they have an ad- 
ditional bond of union. Both are annoyed by rebellions. One is 
striving to crush the embryo national independence of a free-born 
race, wliile the other struggles to repress the efforts of a gallant 
people who shake the yoke to which long years of injustice and 
oppression have failed to i-ender them submissive. 

There are other points of resemblance between these two nations, 
so recently supposed to be the opposite poles, as it were, of human- 
ity. In both there is a barbaric love of magnificence ; in both, a 
gloss of civilization covers the intrinsic savagery of nature. This, 
in the Russian boyard, takes the form of diplomatic refinement 
and courtesy; in the Yankee, it appears as a sham intellectual culture 
and pseudo-philanthropy. Each looks with nervous sensitiveness to 
the opinion of Europe. The Russ, recently emerging from Scyth- 
ian rudeness, desires the applause of that civilization into which 
he is a new comer, while the Yankee looks back with servile ad- 
miration and craving for praise to the society in which he knows 
his progenitors held but an humble place. The points of contact 
arising from social peculiarities and similar potitical position have, 



123 

of late, been increased by siinilarity of govenimciit. Botli are now 
military despotisms, and have a common interest in tlie suppression 
of every struggle for liberty, and the suftbeation of every lofty 
aspiration. 

The Russian despotism, enjoying the advantages of age and long 
habit, is naturally superior, in many points of detail, to tlie recent 
growth of America. The rapidity, however, with which the latter 
advances, gives ground for the assurance that in no distant future, 
Washington will have but little cause for envy of St. Petersburg, 
while, in the essentials of arbitrary government, its proficicn(^y shows 
already that nature lias to a great extent supplied the want of prac- 
tice. 

The Czar, descended from a long line of rulers, and brought up 
in the elegance of a court, may look with some disdain upon his 
brother despot, so recently caught in his native wilds and exalted 
to bis present perch of power. Yet' a not very remote period in 
the life of nations will show the House of Romanhoif almost as ob- 
scure as that of Lincoln. The master-hand of Gibbon has portrayed 
the early state of the Russian empire, and has shown us, with lifelike 
vividness, the rude traffic of a barbarous tribe. He has described 
the descent of the Don, — in boats not very dissimilar to those in 
which the American Czar formerly plied his vocation on the Missis- 
sippi, — and navrated that fierce attack of Constantinople, which 
Nicholas was anxious to repeat, and to which the capture of New 
Oi'leans by the hordes of the Upper Mississippi bears considerable 
analogy. 

These considerations, however, although they abundantly ex])lain 
the reciprocal sympathy between the two Governments, and the 
cordial good will with which they respectively desire the suppres- 
sion of tlie Polish revolt and the subjugation of the South, are in- 
sufficient to warrant the formation of an alliance. No benefit could 
well result to either party from it. The Yankee Czar has his hands 
full, and could, of course, furnish no assistance to the Muscovite. 
The latter might send him ships, but of these Abraham has a suffi- 
ciency, and an addition to the number would not increase his power. 
Immense as is the Russian army, the ordinary necessities of the em- 
pire, the complications of European i^olitics, and the Polish war, ren- 
der it improbable that men could be spared to act against the Con- 
federacy. Such an event might, however, be within the bounds of 
possibility, and the Yankees might carry into practice the scheme 
which George III. vainly attempted against the men of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. 

The report of a Russian alliance with the United States comes 
as a sort of counterpoise to that of French alliance with the Confed- 
eracy. But we may dismiss the idea of such an actual alliance as a 
chimera. Alexander may wish his parvenu brother success, but his 
wishes are not ripe for action. The Russian fleet in Manhattan bay 
is perhaps intended as a public sign, a demonstration, a hint to the 
world of what may be under contingencies, but nothing more at the 
present moment. 



124 



OCTOBER 12, 1863. 



" So fought the Greeks at Thermopylae," is the simple comment 
of Herodotus at the close of his animated description of that heroic 
achievement. For more than two thousand years the deeds of Le- 
onidas and his Three Hundred have been regarded with admiration, 
and extolled as without a parallel. Yet, after all, he was defeated. 
The glorious death ofthe Spartans delayed the march of Xerxes, cost 
him many of his best troops, and secured valuable time to Greece. 
In a moral point of view, it rises to the highest pitch of sublimity. 
Regarded as a simple military operation, it can only be classed as an 
affair of outposts, of no decisive influence upon the fate of the war. 
It has been reserved for America totally to eclipse this vaunted ex- 
ploit of antiquity. This continent has the longest rivers, the biggest ^ 
lakes, and the fattest oysters. It has produced the greatest " rebel- ' 
lion" the world has ever seen, and it is but proper that the most ex- 
traordinary feat of arms should be performed upon its soil. 

Forty-two men, we are informed, repulsed twelve thousand Yan- 
kees at Sabine Pass. Leonidas had three hundred Spartans, not to 
speak of the auxiliaries, at Thermopylje. The commander at Sabine 
Pass — fame has not yet recorded his name — coidd number only 
forty-two men, " principally Irish." These Forty-Tw^o, like the 
knights of old, took their position and defended the Pass against all 
comers. 

But it is not only that the present victory has been gained, but 
that an advantage which should be rendered decisive of the war 
presents itself to us. Admitting that these Forty-Two are the sole 
specimens of their class, granting the violent supposition that in our 
armies there are none to match them, what an important use may 
be made of this number ! Victory for the South is reduced, in the 
future, to a simple equation. A re-enforcement, equal in value to a 
moderate-sized army, can be transported promptly in a single railroad 
car. They may fight at Chattanooga to-day, and three days hence 
on the Ra))pahannock. 

Uneasy doubts may suggest themselves to the minds of some as 
to the truth of this marvellous exploit. It is certainly wonderful, 
but not more so, perhaps, than some of the adventures of Ariosto's 
hero or of the gallant knights whose adventures excited the chiv- 
alric soul of Don Quixote to deeds of valor and knight-errantry. 
Granting that there is much exaggeration in the story, enough will 
remain, after making all reasonable deductions, to warrant the high- 
est expectations from the services of this wonderful band. 

It is the common comjdaint of poets and romancers that the 
progress of science is inimical to the graceful fancies and pleasing 
imagery of their art. The advance of enlightenment has destroyed 
the powder of the fairies and extinguished the belief in ghosts. The 
researches of philosophy and discoveries of chemistry have dried up 
the source of many beautiful conceptions, and given a prosaic solu- 
tion to many phenomena around which poetical imagination was 



125 

■wont to ■weave its texture of fable and mystery. This objection, 
like most of those urged against every fresh development of prog- 
ress, has been shown in many instances to be causeless. There is a 
compensating action in the increase of knowledge for any partial or 
temporary damage it might inflict upon the system of labor of the 
operations of the intellect. The history of inventions abounds in 
instances of the one. The progress of poetry can show examples 
of the other. If some of his favorite themes are taken from the 
bard, his domain is expanded, on the other hand, by new realms of 
thought and more elevated grandeur of conception. The telegraph 
is a striking example of the close alliance between the advance of 
science and the expansion of the imagination. It was at first re- 
garded as the simple messenger of news, the slave of commei'ce, 
the chronicler of variations in stocks, or the details of daily traffic. 
To view it thus was to circumscribe its sphere and to clip its tire- 
less wings. It is worthy of a higher destiny. It can bear the am- 
plification of the poet as well as the dull ci])hers of the merchant. 
Even now it may be engaged in this loftier office. The Trans- 
Mississippi country, in its present state of isolation, is peculiarly 
adapted to stories of the marvellous. The wonderful details of the 
victory of Sabine Pass may be creations of the imagination. If so, 
■we must console ourselves for the loss of the solid advantages that 
might be drawn from it by visions of future fame. We shall have 
legends and ballads worthy of immortality, and our Forty-Two will 
go down the tide of time with Jack the Giant-Killer ; the Palladins 
of Charlemagne ; and that Irish Brigade, of whose exploit at Fon- 
tenoy Marshal Saxe never heard, and which no French historian 
relates, but which is too well known by the rest of mankind to 
require further illustration here. 



OCTOBER 12, 1863. 

The depravity of mankind is in nothing so manifest as in the 
detraction which attends excellence of whatever description. It 
would seem, indeed, that the inevitable consequence of human 
grandeur is human meanness and littleness. By so much as the 
balance is elevated on the one side, just by so much is it depressed 
on the other ; so that great and good men may almost be said to be 
the cause of their opposites — the bad and contemptible. The illus- 
tration which the poet has drawn from natural .phenomena hardly 
meets the case, for while the traveller ascending the mountain side 
reaches at length an elevation destitute of animal or vegetable life, 
his upward progress cannot be said to occasion, much less to multi- 
ply, the venomous reptiles which crawl at the mountain's foot. But 
this appears to be the surprising peculiarity of the moral world, 
where virtue, wisdom, purity and nobility of character seem actually 
to provoke into being vices which otherwise would never have had 
an existence. 



126 

Let the metapliysician explain it as best he can, the fact is incon- 
trovertible, that mankind are so constituted that they cannot witness 
the superiority of their fellow-men without becoming a prey to pre- 
judices the most unreasonable and to passions the most fiendish. 
The confession is, in the last degree, mournful, and all the more so 
because human progress, so-called, and the fimcied beneficence of 
civilization, in nowise diminish this lamentable perversity of man's 
fallen nature. The teachings of experience and the lessons of 
history are of no avail, for the sorrowful truth is that frail man is 
to-day precisely what he was wlien Moses, the meekest of men, was 
overwhelmed by the upbraidings of the people he had delivered from 
Egyptian bondage, and when Socrates, that " most Christian hea- 
then," was forced to the fatal cup of hemlock because his virtues 
were intolerable to the age in which he lived. Follow the course 
of the centuries, from the advent of the Christian era to the present 
hour, and the same sad story is told in every generation, m every 
class of society, every condition of life, with a uniformity so con- 
stant that the theme of envy has long since ceased to attract even 
the passing notice of the philosophic historian, and has passed into 
the hands of the moralists who conduct the trite exercises of the in- 
fant schools. 

In letters, the arts, the sciences, the religious world, and, above 
all, in political affairs, malignity and defamation are the inseparable 
attendants of excellence. As far back as the days of the Jewish 
kings, the penalty of literary skill was so severe and so inevitable, that 
Solomon, with all his wisdom, could only describe it by the famous 
exclamation, " Oh ! that mine enemy would write a book." The 
career of the artist, replete with every misery, is admirably exem- 
plified in the brief and touching story of Pallissey the Potter. If 
we turn to the sciences, the single line of Broussais, "Harvey pass- 
ed for a fool when he announced the discovery of the circulation," 
discloses at a breath the torrent of abuse with which every inventor 
or discoverer is invariably saluted. In the religious world it is well 
known that the fate of the " man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief " is that of all who dare even to attempt to imitate their Lord 
in pureness of heart and holiness of life. 

But it is in the arena of politics that we find the most illustrious 
victims of detraction. How often, during the untoward moments 
of this cruel war, have we had occasion to revert to the history of 
our own immortal Washington ; and when calumny and reproaches 
assailed our living leaders, what sweet consolation have we not 
found in remembering that the mighty dead were wronged in like 
manner. It was hoped that this great conflict might terminate 
without the display of those base passions Avhich assaulted the Father 
of His Country not only during the stormy periods of the devolu- 
tion, but after peace Avas established and every just cause of dis- 
content had disappeared. Yet how accurately, alas ! history has 
repeated itself Envy, jealousy, malice, spite, venom, and all that 
the petty vengeance of disappointed ambition could suggest, have 
been hurled upon one Avho in due season will be hailed as the Father 
of His Country. As Washington was calumniated, so will be all the 



127 

great, the good, tlic aviso, the pure and lofty of the present genera- 
tion. And oil ! how refreshing to think the base arts of the adders 
that hiss at the feet of tlie present greatness will fall harmless as 
they did in the days that are gone. The bitter blows and blasts of 
the evil-minded do but assimilate and identify the heroes of to-day 
with the hnmortal patriots of the past ; and they who suffered what 
Washington sntfered will surely shine in the future oven as Wash- 
ington now shines, and Avill continue to shine until the last syllable 
of recorded time. 



OCTOBER 16, 1863. 

We have been pained by the misconstruction of a late article in 
this newspaper npon the glorious victory gained over twelve thou- 
sand Yankees and a fleet of gun-boats by the imaided valor of 
forty-two Irish, or principallj^ Iiish, fellow-citizens. How any 
Hibernian reader could suppose that the writer was disgusted by 
the happy circumstance it is difficult to imagine. We have published 
our deliglit at it, and we are charmed to learn, on equally good 
authority, that the Confederate army contains no less than fifty 
thousand Irish of like quality. An easy calculation Avill prove that 
if forty-two can whip twelve thousand, fifty thousand can as easily 
dispose of fourteen millions of the enemy. 

Which of the Confederate armies in the field contains this large 
body of invincible troops ? We are unable to answer the question, 
but liope they are just now under the command of O'Bragg. An- 
other question which often troubles the mind is whether there are 
any native Confederate troops at all. Last Avinter some remarks 
about the Jews Avere misconstrued, and this ncAVspaper was se\^erely 
reprimanded therefor, because the Confederate army contained fifty 
thousand Jews, principally under Lee, Avhose real name was Levy. 
In the beginning of the war some other remarks about Yankees were 
misconstrued and this journal was rebuked by a member of Con- 
gi-ess who declared that the Confederate army contained fifty thou- 
sand fellow-citizens of Northern birth. Supposing the Germans, 
the French, and others to claim only an equal number, Avhat part of 
the Confederate force consists of the Avretched natives ? Are there 
any natiA^es? Do people CA'er get born here? This Avriter has 
often met enlightened foreigners who maintained the contrary. One 
official gentleman Avho had passed eighteen years here assured his 
countrymen that tAVO-thirds — tAvo full thirds — of the American 
people Avere of European birth. It Avas vain to argue Avith hira 
that the original English population Avas prolific, that they ate much 
meat, married early, and begot sons and daughters during two 
hundred years He trusted to his senses, he said, and tAVO out of 
every three people he saAv here spoke no English, 

As to the battle of Fontenoy, it is rather stale news ; but as an 
allusion to it has been equally " misconstrued," and as Ave are 
assured that our fifty thousand Irish soldiers will not fight unless 



12S 

justice to their personal conduct in that battle is done, we publish 
the true history of that immortal day, won by the Irish brigade, 
under Lally, an Irishman, born in Dauphine, France, who was an 
officer in the French artillery. In this faith was the present writer 
reared, and often has he been disgusted and astonished by the men- 
dacious accounts of that battle in French histories and encyclopaidias. 
While perusing them, the well-informed reader often asks himself, 
where, then, is the Irish brigade ? When is Lord Clare about to 
begin ? When will O'Brien rush on ? But they never rush on in 
the French accounts. The Irish brigade fills only half sentences, 
and is always second ; while the authentic accounts universally 
represent the whole French army broken and running away, with 
King Louis foremost, and the Irish coming forward and winning 
the victory by themselves. Such is the "exploit of this Irish 
brigade," at Fontenoy, to which allusion was made in this paper. 
It is hoped that no further unkind misconstructions will be made. 
The Irish are the bravest soldiers of all the armies of the world ; 
they have Avon all the victories in all countries, except in one, — and 
that exception is, doubtless, due to the fact that the mercenary 
auxiliaries they have with them elsewliei'e, are not ^in their jjlaces 
there, as they should be. 



CTOBER 27, 1863. 

" The very interesting colored barber, direct from Richmond," 
whose arrival in Washington and whose revelations of life in Rich- 
mond were thought of sufficient importance to be telegraphed to the 
New York T7)nes, has turned up in that city with " a handkerchief 
full of locks of hair, shorn from the heads of rebel notables, obtained 
in the course of business," and has been doing a good stroke of 
trade by selling them to the fanatical dupes. A special meeting, to 
receive him and hear his stories, was held in the basement of 
Cheever's church ; reporters were in attendance, and the particulars 
are given in a copy of the Tribune of the 32d futuro, which was 
forwarded to us by an obliging friend in the signal corps, and 
received at a late hour last night. We have room only for a few of 
the most remarkable passages : — 

"Quite a collection of prominent ladies and gentlemen were 
assembled last evening in the basement of the Rev, Dr. Cheever's 
church, to pay their respects to the very interesting colored barber 
from Richmond, whose arrival in this city has been anticipated with 
so much anxiety. Among the celebrities present, we noticed Mr. 
Greeley, of the Tribune; Mr. Raymond, of the 7\'»ies y Mr. Stephen 
Pearl Andrews ; Miss Dix ; Professor Fowler ; Mrs. Kemble ; Dr. 
Hodge, of Princeton Seminary; Dr. Guernsey, oi Harper'' s Monthh/ ; 
Rev. Dr. Pyne; Dr. Cheever; Mrs. Swisshelm, and others. The 
meeting was opened with prayer, by the Rev, Dr. Cheever, who 
then introduced the distinguished guest, Mr. Jupiter McFarland, a 
tall, salmon-colored gentleman, about thirty years of age, quite 



120 

liandsome, Avith intolHgont black eyes, hair almost strsiiglil, and a 
decidedly plea^iing address. After shaking; hands with the prlnei[)al 
personages, Mr. ]McFarland, who ' has in his Acins the best blood of 
Virginia,' stood up in the middle of the centre aisle, and answered 
in an audible tone, the cpiestions put to him by Dr. Checver and 
others, llis education being imperfect, Mr. McFarland's English 
was not altogether elegant ; but his melodious tones and bis frank 
directness of manner made him easily understood." 

We pass over the incidents of his escape, which are minutely, 
and no doubt falsely narrated, and come at once to the important 
questions and answers, as given by the reporter, who makes a feeble 
attempt to imitate the mulatto lingo. 

" Q. Are you acquainted u-ith the rebel leaders?" 

" A. Yes, sir ; intimately. They come regular to my shop to 
get shaved." 

" Q. All of them?" 

" A. All 'cept Mr. Benjamin and the 'Tomey GenVal ; they is 
too busy." 

" Q. Does Jeif. Davis come ?" 

" A. Yes, he is de fust one, eveiy raornin,' sure as de sun shines." 

" Q- What sort of a man is he ?" 

" A. Well, he don't cuss none sence he jined the Church, biit 
he is potty rambunktious when he can't git no good segai-s from 
Cuby to smoke." 

" Q. Do the people like him ?" 

" Jl. Some un'em does and some un'em doesn't. Them that 
lives in the Departments swars by him, but the rest says he apint 
mean gen'rals, just to spite the people." 

" Q. His cabinet fear him very much, do they not ?" 

" A. Well, as for cabinet-makei-s, thar hain't but mighty few- 
left ; most un'em havin' took to makin' coffins." [Suppressed laughter.] 

" Q. Thei'e are a great many deaths in the city, then ?" 

"^1. Yes, sir; we has berried nigh on'to four millions of 'Fed- 
rit soldiers since the war begun." [Sensation.] 

" Q. Does Jeff. Davis get shaved every day ?" 

" Q. No, he gits sharapood ; and then he sits in a cheer and 
smokes, and spits about, and talks jwlitics to his friends." 

" Q- What other pei-sons come to your shop ?" 

" A. Mr. Letchers comes to git his hair curled, and so does 
Mr. Seddons. Mr. IMemminger and the Press Gen'ral, Mr. Northup, 
they comes to git their mustaches confumed, and bathes together." 

" Q. You don't mean to say they bathe in the same tub, at the 
same time ?" 

"^1. Yes, I do; they washes one another with castile soap. Tliey 
is great friends, and plays into each other's hands.'* 

" Q. How do they do that ?" 

" A. Why, Mr. Memminger, he makes money accordin' to the 
claims of the Press Gen'ral ; and the Press Gen'ral, he is a fierce old 
man ; he says, he bedam if he aint going to press every thing the 
people raise to eat, so as to make expenses light." 



130 

" Q. There is great scarcity of food in Richmond, then ?" 

" A. Yes ; people dies every day of starvation." 

" Q. That's the reason there are so many mobs of women ?" 

" A. Not adzacldy ; for Govermint is afeard of tlieir risin, like 
they did last Avinter, and so they gives 'em plenty of money; bnt 
it's mostly the rich planters that's been drove away from home and 
lost every thing, that perishes for the want of something to eat, and 
is 'shamed to say any thing about it." [Loud and prolonged ap- 
plause.] 

" Question by Mr. Greeley. — How about the rebel rams ?" 

" A. I declar' , sir, I don't know. I aint taste sheep meat for 
two year. I don't love it." 

[The merriment of the audience at this unexpected reply, says 
tlie Tribune reporter, could not be repressed, the lecture room 
shook with laughter, in which Mr. McFarland joined when his 
mistake was explained to him. He then stated that the rebels had 
three or lour rams completed, and about two dozen more, of the 
largest size, well under way, at the little town of Fluvanna, about 
five miles above Richmond.] 

" Question by Miss Dix. — There are a great many low women in 
the city, are there not ?" 

" A. I don't know, old Mistiss— " 

" Miss Dix, interrupting. — I am your sister, not your mistress ; 
recollect you are free now." 

" A. So I is. I forgot dat. Well, sister, the women is mostly 
about your height, some a leetle higher, may be," 

" By Mr. Pearl Andeews. — Society is in a very disorganized 
state, I imagine f 

"^i. A good deal that way. Since the war broke out the furri- 
ners has quit comin' with their organs and monkeys." 

"7?y Mr, Raymond, — How long do the rebels think the war 
will last?" 

"^, About five-and-twenty year, unless the flour and meal 
gives out,'-' 

" Q. I suppose they hate us very heartily ?" 

"^, They don't do nothiu' else; and the little boys is worse 
than the grown folks. If they catches any of your men in the street, 
trying to git back home, they chokes 'em down and takes 'em in the 
back yard of the cullerd folks jails, and turns bull-dogs and blood- 
liounds onto 'em tell they tears 'em to pieces. Cap'n Alexander, at 
the Libby, has got a big hound that has eat at least two hundred 
prisoners alive. But they never lets this be known." [Intense 
indignation and excitement, especially among the ladies,] 
" Q. Money is very scarce in Richmond, isn't it?" 
" A. Thar's plenty on it, but it don't buy nothiu' because the 
Govermint ain't got the sense to manage its business. When I was 
in Washington, Mr. Chaste larfed at liis brother Secretary, as he 
called him, and said he could wind him around his little finger. 
He had been patterning hard after him, but that had just brought 
him into trouble, for the two countries warnt in the same fix at all." 



331 

[This financial revelation of the Richmond clarkcy was liailed as 
a positive proof of the great intellectual capacity of the African, and 
elicited many compliments from Raymond. At least, this is what 
the Yankee reporter says.] 

" Question <';y General McClellax, who had jnst come in. — How 
many troops are there in and around Richmond ?" 

'■'•A. A good many. Thar is the Armory Band and the City 
Battalion, and Gen'ral Brown's horse company, and the militia, and 
about a thousand hundred niggers." 

" Q. Are the negroes armed ?" 

" A. Yes, sir. They makes out like they was working on the 
fortifications, but they has as many and good arms as anybody. 
I seen 'em." 

" Q. Who commands the whole foi-ce ?" 

"^. I haint sartin for sure, but I expect Cap^i Freeman and 
Gen'ral Brown, the President's fust cuzzin." 

[Hci'e says the Trihime reporter, the important part of the con- 
versation ended, and Mr. McFarland opened his handkerchief and 
disposed of a lot of hair trinkets, made out of the capillary excres- 
cence of the noted rebels, male and female, whom he had, at various 
times, attended in his capacity of barber. Most of the articles 
brought high figures. A lock of Jefli". Davis' hair sold for $10 ; a 
curl of Governor Letcher's for $5, and a neat watch-guard, made of 
the plaited tresses of two kinds of beautiful hair, one straight and 
the other curly, but sweetly haniionizing, was knocked down to Mr. 
Greeley at |40, Bracelets made of the hair of other secesh belles 
sold at less remarkable rates, but Mr. McFarland must have netted 
between $300 and $400 by the night's operation, " Avith a few more 
left of the same sort," which may be had on application to him at 
his lodgings, with Miss Dix, on East Tliirty-fourth Street. The 
doxology was sung, the benediction pronounced by a clergyman 
from Boston, whose name we did not catch, and the meeting broke 
up harmoniously.] 



NO V EMBER 3, 18 63. 

The war, with all its long train of evils, has furnished nothing 
comparable in depth of tragic interest and intensity of pathos to the 
grief of Meade when he found that Lee had retired without fighting. 
Rather than that Lee should have escaped without a battle, ipse 
dixit., he would have lost an eye-tooth. Here is " the touch of 
nature that makes the whole world kin." We cannot all be gener- 
als or statesmen : but we can all appreciate the pain of drawing a 
tooth. All can appreciate, then, the magnitude of the sacrifice that 
Meade was prepared to make. History records no greater act of 
self-abnegation than this. Agamemnon yielding up I])higenia, 
Richard HL immolating his nephews, or the Virginia Legislature 
abolishing the faro-banks, are not more heroic. 
^^ It is strange what apparently contradictory appeai-ances some- 



132 

times conceal the real wishes of men. With all this anxiety on the 
part of Meade, it had really seemed that he avoided the battle that 
Lee pressed upon him instead of courting it. Could Lee not be 
forced to fight ? O ! Marius, if thou art a great general, come down 
and fight. O ! Sylla, if thou art a great general, make me come 
down and fight. 

In this fearful calamity which has overtaken Meade, he has the 
satisfaction, at least, of being sustained by his countrymen. That 
singular people display one amiable trait of character, which is re- 
freshing to note as a change amidst the stream of vituperation that 
has poured upon them for the last two yeai*s. They are always in 
the best possible humor with themselves. If they are disgracefully 
routed at Bull Run, they actually seem to glory in the completeness 
of their defeat and the exaggeration of their panic. If they gain an 
advantage by dint of overwhelming numbers or a combination of 
land and sea forces, it is straightway magnified into the greatest vic- 
tory since Marathon. If defeated, they congratulate themselves on 
escaping complete annihilation. If they are foiled in advancing and 
forced to fly, all disappointment at the failure of their plan is lost 
in admiration of the skillful retreat. Under all circumstances they 
are faithful to this optimist philosophy. 

The Yankees excel in the art of description, as in all other mat- 
ters. No feat of arms has passed uncelebrated. In fact the warriors 
have been more deficient than the poets. In default of those bril- 
liant victories which it was expected would be furnished so abun- 
dantly by their generals, these men of the pen have been forced to 
invent, and to atone for deficiency of skill or prowess by fertility of 
imagination. They surveyed the field and talked in sounding phrase 
of " the Grand Army with its right resting upon the Mississippi and 
its left upon the Atlantic." 

Great commanders have been, more or less, celebrated for skill 
in particular departments of the science of war. Hannibal was 
famed for ambushes and stratagems ; Frederic, for handling cavalry ; 
Napoleon, especially, for his celerity of movement and relentless 
pursuit. Tlie Yankees seized the vacant post of priority in con- 
ducting retreats. Xenophon, it is true, gained immortal honor by 
the retreat of the Ten Thousand. Moreau, in modern times, dis- 
tinguished himself by the retreat through the Black Forest. Yet 
these generals did not rest their fame exclusively on these feats. 
It was reserved for Meade and some othei' Yankee generals to attain 
the highest summit of renown by the skillful performance of retro- 
grade movements alone. 

Brilliant as is the reputation he has won for himself in this Avar, 
Meade evidently aspires to something more. Hence the affecting 
declaration respecting the eye-tooth. Let him beware lest he be 
toppled from his present pinnacle. The nation he serves is some- 
what fickle. They praise a general one day and revile him the next. 
They wheedle and pet th^ victim while they are actually whetting 
the knife to decapitate him. Was there ever a nation in which a 
question could arise like that between Burnside and Hooker, where 



133 

the lattcr's fote trembled in the balance and he hardly escaped being 
iijnominiously broken in order to rise to be commander-in-chief. 
With such masters the most skilful retreats will fail to avert one's ruin. 



NOVEMBER 4, 18 63. 

With that fondness for analogies which is so characteristic of all 
theorists, writers on both sides of the great controversy between 
the North and tlie South, have endeavored to set forth the relations 
between the members of the old Union under almost every conceiv- 
able form of partnership. But, oddly enough as it might seem, if 
we looked merely at the surface, the Southerners, in spite of their 
traditional, hot-blooded, impulsive temperament, have always taken 
the quiet, business-like view of the connection between the two 
divisions of the late model republic, and have invariably represented 
it under the figure of a mercantile firui ; wdiile the Yankees, who had 
palmed themselves off on their own tribe, and on the rest of the 
world as cool, unpoetical calculators, have as uniformly developed 
an astonishing amount of maudlin sentimentality whenever this sub- 
ject has been broached. Notorious as they are for the matter-of- 
course way in which they are wont to put off the ties of nature, they 
could yet grow eloquent when descanting on the brotherhood of all 
American citizens, or the sisterhood of the States. When first seces- 
sion "reared its awful form," they called us "erring brethren," and 
"wayward sisters," "rebellious brethren," and "estranged sisters," 
"a little more than kin and less than kind," and so they ran on 
through all the gamut of appropriate epithets to their unfraternal 
relatives of the South. Then they became still more affectionate 
as we grew less fond, and next assumed the paternal type ; Uncle 
Sam foimd out that his nieces were his own children ; and imported 
citizens in Wisconsin and Minnesota mourned in High Dutch, and 
wept in lager beer over the unfilial conduct of South Carolina and 
Georgia. But the climax of sentimentahty for the North, and of 
insult to the South, was attained when the Yankee worked himself 
up to the amatory pitch, and represented the Union of the States 
under the symbol of wedlock — the Northern States the bridegroom, 
and the Southern, the bride. We all remember how the fit idol of 
these modern Egyptians, their god Anubis, their chosen chief, Abra- 
ham Lincoln, aired this comparison on his way to Washington, and 
how he enlivened the parallel by ribald allusions to free love and 
elective affinities. 

We said that the difference between the modes of representation 
might have seemed strange in view of the popular conception of 
Northern and Southern character; but the fact is, that the true 
standard-bearers of the South — her statesmen and her thinkers — 
were never so much given to bursts of sympathy as the declama- 
tory champions of the North ; and now that the fiery trial of actual 
w^arfare has brought out the stamp of each nationality in clear 
outlines, no one should wonder that the Yankees have the monopoly 



134 

of the sentimental department ; for sentiment is always idle, always 
selfish; real feeling alone is active and self-sacrificing. Still we liave 
too high an estimate of Yankee shrewdness to suppose that these 
displays of rhetoric are meant for any other ears than those of the 
groundlings ; and the initiated have, no doubt, a far difierent idea 
of the real nature of the Union. They are not imposed upon by 
brotherhoods and sisterhoods, by the bonds of a " common descent, a 
common language, and a common liistory." They, too, take a busi- 
ness view of the connection, and look upon the Union as a great life 
insurance bubble. And how well they understand the working of 
such institutions our Southern policj'-holders know to their cost. 
The peculiar form of insurance company after which the Union, as 
they have it, was framed, is technically called a Tontine, and the 
brief exposition of the system is conveyed in the familiar regulation, 
"The longest liver takes aU." The Southern States, according to 
them, had so many inherent elements of weakness, that they were 
to die out, and the North was to succeed, by virtue of survivorship, 
to the rents of their less vigorous neighbors, and, meanw^hile, by 
dexterous management in the board of directors, to cheat them out 
of any annuities which might be due. But the process of dying out 
was very slow. Some of the incorrigible Southern shareholders ac- 
tually had the impudence to increase and multiply at a time of life 
when such behavior was a breach of good taste, if not of good 
breeding; and Virginia, the oldest representative of the Southern 
branch, though declared ejfete a thousand times; though shown by 
skil ful Northern diagnosis to be suiFering from dropsy of the brain, 
tubercles in the lungs, cancer of the stomach, phthisis, enteritis, 
borborygmus, and a general complication of .disorders, suddenly 
took a new lease of life to the great discomfiture of the Northern 
shareholders, and bade fair to prolong her span by a couple of cen- 
turies. In short, it soon became evident that the " course of ulti- 
mate extinction" was very tardy, and it was deemed expedient to 
aid nature a little. As the Tontine was an Italian device, Italy, the 
mother of poisons, slow and quick, and the home of the stiletto, 
was appealed to for help, and not in vain. But the slow poisons 
were too slow ; the qixick poisons only acted as emetics, and the 
stiletto glanced from the ribs of the Southrons. Then they tried to 
smother us in our sleep between feather-beds of comi)romise meas- 
ures, and to strangle us by a cordon of " free States." Wholesale mur- 
der — the last resort of Yankees as of kings — is their present experi- 
ment, and it promises to succeed no better — nay, to be a more 
lamentable fiilure for them than their previous eftbrts. 

If we drop the parable and ask ourselves, with becoming serious- 
ness, which of the two contending social systems has better stood 
the test of this " storm and pressure" period, we may well look for 
a cheering response to the question. Here the devil's liver)-^ of Red 
and Black — Black Republicanism faced with Red Republicanism — 
finds no wearer. Our hodden-gray is sadly threadbare, but it is an 
honest dress, and we need not be ashamed of it. Here no conflict- 
ing interests array section against section. Here no foreign ele- 



135 

ment thi'eatens to ahsoi-b and assimilate our native culture. Here 
we do not feel the weight of a leaden tyrant in every breath we 
draw ; we are men and walk erect. 

They said that we were tyrants dancing on a slumbering volcano, 
and as soon as the Yankee stokers stirred up the sluggish mass, we 
would be consumed. The Yankee stokers have stirred up the 
sluggish mass, and there has been no explosion. The South can 
never be a St. Domingo, in sjjiteof all that the ingenuity of Yankee 
hate can do ; for our negroes are better Christians and truer gentle- 
men than their would-be liberators. Nor are we much disturbed at 
tlie opprobrious title of oligarchs. Oligarchies are bad enough for 
those who do not like them, but they have the advantage of a tough 
vitality ; and, oligarchy or not, our form of government and our 
social organization give promise of a longer life than the mob-rule 
of the North, with attendant man-worships and monkey-worships. 
Not that we think ours is the best of possible republics, and the 
present the most agreeable ejjoch in the world's history. There are 
endless abuses rife in the Confederacy, and many a man since the begin- 
ning of the war, has wished to change places with his grandfather or 
his grandson ; but the fabric of our social life remains, as a whole, 
unshaken, and in lieu of pleasure we must console ourselves with the 
philosophical reflection, that, after all, happiness is not the highest 
good, and that our descendants will wish that they had lived in the 
stirrinac times of the Great Revolution. 



NOVEMBER 7, 1863. 

An obvious and striking peculiarity of the war is the complete 
ignorance manifested on both sides as to* the resources, views and 
sentiments of their adversaries. This, in itself a noteworthy phe- 
nomenon, is likewise a key to the solution of many problems con- 
nected with the origin and duration of the struggle. It was this 
blindness — the arrogant confidence arising from it — that urged the 
aggressors to persevere in the destructive policy which caused the 
war. The same cause produced the gradual expansion of the strug- 
gle. To it are to be attributed the apparent failure to appreciate 
the true importance of the crisis — common to both sides— the 
make-shift policy, and the continual expectation of a speedy termin- 
ation of hostilities which have filled the general mind with such a 
series of illusions. Both countries maybe said — as Lord Aberdeen 
said of England in the rupture with Russia — to have " drifted 
into war." 

It is now apparent even to the Yankees themselves that they had 
grossly miscalculated the power and the temper of the Southern 
people. The South fell into an error similar in character, though 
not equal in degree. Her statesmen clearly saw that the marvellous 
wealth and prosperity of the North was based upon that of the 
South. They then jumped to the conclusion that the damming up 



136 

of this abundant source would at once cripple Yankee power and 
preclude the possibility of a great war. They knew, too, that the 
character of the hostile people was averse to enterprises of doubtful 
gain, and they confidently argued that sober reflectioti would deter 
the Yankees from the gigantic effort to conquer a whole and united 
people. In this reasoning they underestimated the power of that accu- 
mulated wealth which seven decades of prosperity had collected in 
the populous centres of the North, and overlooked the pecuniary 
resources that could be brought into play by the dexterous working 
of financial machinery. Nor did they foresee, to its full extent, the 
power which the dominant faction would obtain of controlling so 
entirely the full resources of their people and of stimulating them by 
the combined operation of appeals to interest and patriotism and by 
the pressure of terrorism. From these mutual mistakes each nation 
has seen its task swell into giant proportions. 

Inscrutable as the future now appears, there are some cheering 
indications of the final crash which is destined to overtake the inva- 
dei', unless he can gain more decisive advantages than any he has 
obtained since the tide was first turned against him after the fall 
of New Orleans. 

Our surgeons say that the Confedei-ate wounded display much 
greater fortitude in the endurance of suffering than the Yankees. 
They attribute it to the high spirit of the men. In the same way, a 
tithe of the distress, borne unmurmuringly by a large part of the 
Southern people, would drive the masses of the North to despair. 



NO VEMBER 12, 18 63. 

The various shifts adopted to supply the Avant of some general 
organic provision for the withdrawal of the surplus circulation of 
Confederate notes, and their reduction into funded debt, have all 
failed of their object. Men no longer impose implicit confidence in 
Confederate bonds. Now and tlien we hear the old patriotic 
phrases : " If these bonds ai*e not good, nothing is good ; for if we 
are subjugated we can call nothing our own." But men are begin- 
ning to see the want of logical sequence in this popular syllogism ; 
and it is now conceivable that the Government might be bankrupt, 
and yet the country not sulyugated. The old view is the better 
for the honor of our cause ; but the new mode of looking at the 
matter is certainly in accordance with experience. As Machiavelli 
saw, long ago, gold and silver are not the sinews of war ; and we 
can thrash the Yankees with empty pockets, as we have thrashed 
them with ragged trousers, and jackets oi;t at elbows. 

All patriotic considerations have lost their weight in the general 
demoralization attendant on a prolonged Avar, The people are dis- 
gusted with the confusion and uncertainty which the waxing 
plethora of paper money lias introduced into every department of 
business and every branch of domestic economy. No one knows 



137 

what to charpre for his wares, except that he cannot charge too 
ninch. An advance of thirty or forty per cent, a week on articles 
of prime necessity, is a plienoinenon tliat lias ceased to excite the 
slightest astonishment; and in the general despair of a fixed stand- 
ai*d, some are reverting to the clumsy method of barter ; some are 
making contracts, to be adjusted at a distant future, in which, it is 
hoped, the relations of value will be more settled than they are at 
present. 

This disgust extends itself to the externals of Confederate money, 
— as well it may. The people are disgusted with every sjiade of 
Confederate notes; with every line of the coarse engravings; with 
the lopsided capitol at Richmond ; with the portraits of distin- 
guished cabinet officers and statesmen, who frown or smirk from 
their pillory in the vignettes. Any change would be welcomed 
which should put Mr. JNlemminger's assignats out of sight — " any- 
where, anywhere out of the world." 

We count largely, then, on the general loathing, on this surfeit 
of paper and printer's' ink ; and, under the pressure of the popular 
opinion. Congress will doubtless attempt to devise some compre- 
hensive and vigorous measures for i-educing the inflated ciUTcncy 
and preventing the return of this paper deluge. To be efl^ective, 
these measures must be simple, and the personal agency required be 
reduced to a minimum. Expedition is all-imjiortant under the cir- 
cumstances. The operation of the stringent measures of a compre- 
hensive and expeditious system may seem harsh in individual cases, 
but cannot be harsher than the conscription system, which has 
blighted the prospects of tens of thousands, and marred some of their 
noblest and dearest plans of life. Like the conscription, it will 
teach men that they belong to their country and not to themselves, 
— a lesson which is not always best learned by voluntary sacrifices. 
Of course the system must be carried out thoroughly, and to this 
end it must be selt-working, so far as human wit can devise. Trust 
to personal agency and we shall have but another illustration of 
the old saw, " a good beginning makes a bad ending." It was of 
a financial reform that Tacitus wrote , Acribus utferme talia initiis^ 
incur ioso fine. 



NOVEMBER 14, 18 63. 

If the reputation of the Yankee Secretary of State as a states- 
man depended upon what is generally regarded as the highest 
attribute of that character, and were to be measured b}'^ the degree 
of foresight exhibited in his various predictions, he Avould be deemed 
totally unfitted to hold the helm in times of tempest. During that 
period of j^lethoric peace which carried material prosperity to such 
a height in the United States, and stimulated so greatly the passion 
of gain, Seward was qualified to be one of the rulers of men. Subtle 
chicanery and dexterity in party tactics, supplied the place of those 
10 



138 

1)roacI principles of generalization which are necessary to secure the 
highest and most permanent welfare of a nation. In such times, 
the adroit leader of a faction seems to be endowed with all the 
qualities that confer success. The triumph of a party is considered 
synonymous Avith the prosperity of tlie State. 

It is no matter of surprise that the remarkable skill displayed 
by Seward in forming and directing the energies of a party, should 
have won him the reputation of a consummate statesman among his 
colaborers. He himself did not, evidently, appreciate the magni- 
tude of the new circumstances by which he was surrounded, when, 
on his advent to power, he found himself face to face with a great 
revolution, to which his own efforts had, contrary to his expecta- 
tion, so powerfully contributed. With that incapacity to appreci- 
ate the true value of great events, so characteristic of narrow minds, 
he looked upon the agitation of a nation's heart as the ebullition of 
a disappointed faction. Hence those ridiculous prophecies of a 
restoration of concord and re-establishment of the Union repeated 
with such perseverance, long after they provoked the derision of 
the woi'ld. 

He is now chary of making predictions, to be accomplished in a 
limited time, though this veteran intriguer still extends his view to 
those whom he is 2:)leased to term " his Southern brethren." To 
serve the pur^^oses of meta]ihor, we have been forced to fill nearly 
all the modes of relationship with our would-be Yankee brethren. 
We have been barbarous ingrates to the tenderest of mothers ; then 
we have sought to dissever the bonds of conjiagal union ; we have 
been erring. sisters; Cain-like brothers; and now Seward felicitously 
depicts us under the type of the Prodigal Son. 

He assures us that the fatted calf will be slain upon our re- 
j^entant return. Neither men nor angels can prevent that, he says. 
As to the men of his own region, his knowledge may entitle him to 
speak ; but his means of ascertaining the opinions of the angels is 
not so clear. Neither is it evident Avhy the angels should be 
desii'ous of forbidding the feast, even had they the power, which he 
positively denies them. Ever since he compared himself to the 
Saviour, upon tlie taking of Vicksburg, his knowledge of heavenly 
matters must be taken for granted, and we are bound to. suppose 
that he possesses equal sources of information upon two subjects so 
essentially distinct as the power of the angels and the movements 
of New York politicians. 

The prodigal son was abandoned to his evil courses until, having 
wasted his substance in riotous living, he sought the shelter of the 
paternal roof. Thus, too, Mr. Seward declines to extend us any 
invitation, although he is ready to give us so cordial a welcome 
back. May we not suggest to him the j^ropriety of following his 
exemplar with more exactness ? The father of that dissolute young 
man did not attempt to reclaim him by force. He awaited the 
natui-al consequence of his conduct, and when his own misfortunes 
caused him to return, he was joyfully received. Let Mr. Seward 
advise Lincoln, who must be taken as the impersonation of the 



139 

venerable and sorrowful father, to withdraw his armies and endure 
a little while, until the repentance, which will soon take posssession 
of his undutiful son, drives liim to seek admission into the 
paternal mansion. The loncjer he persists in his evil courses, 
the more thorough will be his repentance, according to Seward. 
Let no obstacle, then, be opposed to the consummation of the good 
work, but let him rather be encouraged to i)ersist until the harvest 
is ripe. In the mean time we can assure Mr. Seward that the 
South has already much reformed, especially in the article of riotous 
living. True, we pay very high prices, as he has no doubt heard, 
but our estate is not seriously diminished by them, since the 
great magician who converts leaves into money by a stroke of 
the wand, defrays all our expenses. 

Then, again, the Northern statesman changes the metaphor, and 
regards us as a property, of which Abraham Lincoln has been un- 
justly defrauded, and appeals to those natural principles of justice 
which warrant the possession of his goods to every owner. We 
are compared to horses, boats, or houses, and Lincoln is said to be 
merely defending himself against robbery. Here it might possibly 
have suggested itself to him that the argument was susceptible of 
another turn, and might have done duty on the Southern side. 
Without the faintest appearance of consciousness, or the least blush 
of shame, he goes further, and insists upon the natural right of de- 
fending one's country. Not the glimmer of a doubt appears that 
the South may be engaged at this moment in that laudable work, and 
the inference is irresistible, that, in taking possession of our ^country, 
the Yankees are only reclaiming what is their own, and that the 
sectional vote which gave Lincoln proprietary rights over the country, 
carries, as a corollary, the ownership of the soil and its produce. 
His subjects are well disposed to acquiesce in this view of the case. 
The good old rule sutficeth them, the simple plan, " that they should 
take who have the power, and they should keep who can." 

Mr. Seward seems to ignore human feeling altogether in his 
calculations as to " his final success in the great work of restoring 
the Union." In the blandness of his own nature he can see no ob- 
stacle in the three years of war to prevent a re-union of North and 
South. The thousands of victims, the laceration of war, and the 
catalogue of sufferings that follow in its train, are not valid reasons 
why their memory should not be obliterated, and Southei-n men 
give the hand of friendship and political association to those who 
have inflicted upon them all the woes that invasion and conquest 
accumulate upon the heads of a devoted people. Let him read hu- 
man nature, not as developed in the pulseless frigidity of his own 
heart, but as mirrored in the stream of history. 



NO VEMBER 2 0, 18 63, 



It is a wise provision of nature for the happiness of the human 
species, though it may not be so conducive to its solid improvement 



140 

that renders us blind to our own Aveaknesses and ridiculous traits. 
In vain does tlie disinterested good-nature of our friends seek, by 
open remonstrance or subtle inffuendo, to enlighten us and lead us in 
the path of reform. We obstinately refuse to be convinced, and 
assure our well-wishers, with as much confidence as the Archbishop 
of Grenada did Gil Bias in the aifair of his sermons, that they are 
entirely mistaken : faults we have, of course, but the particiilar 
foible they have selected for animadversion is the very one from 
which we are entirely free. Thus, too, a dandy of the Tittlebat 
Titmouse stamp often struts along w>ith the air of most perfect sat- 
isfaction, entirely unconscious that he is a subject of ridicule to the 
critical public, and attributing the smiles provoked by his bad taste 
to the admiration he excites. All of us are reluctant to acknowl- 
edge our imperfections. Even the pious Christian, who, in the 
fervor of his humility, lifts up his voice on the Sabbath, accuses 
himself of all the sins in the decalogue, and grovels in the dust with 
the worm, has a dim and consoling consciousness in the background 
thai he is, by no means, the abject creature he professes himself to 
be. Out of this jjrostrate and hebdomadal state of abasement he 
knows that he is to rise to a glorified week of existence, and that, 
for six consecutive days, he will have the proud satisfaction of being 
lauded by the community as a most excellent member of society, 
and a bright ornament to the church. All bis protestations of his 
worthlessness are to be taken in a Pickwickian sense. He does not 
intend that God shall believe him too implicitly. 

Even if this disposition to see every thing relating to ourselves in 
a roseate hue impedes our progress in some respects, yet it makes 
am|jle amends in the happiness it gives. Setting aside the prosaic 
realities of life, such as eating and drinking, which no force of im- 
agination can entirely dispense with, illusion is a much greater con- 
stituent of human liappiness than reality. Surely it is better to live 
in that fairy world where the glittering veil of self-conceit hides 
every deformity, and softens every line of beauty, than to have the 
chilling touch of displeasing reality continually pressed upon us. 
Better continue hugging our frailties, in the belief that they are 
virtues, than to aim at a distant ideal, whose difficulty of access de- 
presses our spirits and unbraces our energy. " Know thyself" was 
very bad advice to the mass of mankind. 

Never was this principle of philosophy so beautifully illustrated 
as in the case of that most interesting and advanced nation, whose 
chief business for some time past has been to cut our throats and 
steal our property, all in the name of civilization and humanity. 
For the last three years they have been the objects of the almost 
unmixed derision and abhorrence of the whole world. Their attempts 
at the magnificent and the heroic have been hailed with shouts of 
" inextinguishable laughter," while their cold-blooded barbarity has 
excited the opposite emotion of horror. Scarcely a dissentient voice 
has been heard, save from those whose fanatic enthusiasm would 
lead them to approve any enormities in the holy cause, as they 
deem it, or from those, the identity of whose situation and principles 



141 

renders thom sympathetic with every form of tyranny. It is useless 
to cite tlie oi)inion of the Southern people, as their testimony would 
be naturally subject to suspicion, it !)einii; evidently difficult for men 
who have been chased from their homes, despoiled of tlieir prop- 
erty, or Avounded in their affections, to jud^e the perpetrators of 
these acts with impartiality. The testimony of the neutral world is 
sufficiently clear. 

How wretched would we suppose that nation to be under this 
load of obloquy ! We know them to be very thin-skinned. We 
know how miserable they were made by the satire of Trollope and 
Dickens ; how it cut them to the soul to be ridiculed for eating with 
their knives, talking through their noses, or indulging in the cross- 
examination of travellers. Even noAv they are reviling Dickens for 
his ingratitude in abusing them after the kind reception and the 
magnificent ball they gave him. They taunt the British nation with 
its base requital of the honor done the Prince of Wales in lending a 
semi-recognition to the Confederacy and building it a few ships. 
With true commercial instinct they looked upon their balls and pa- 
rades as judicious ventures, which were to bring them in good returns. 
The pen of the novelist and the alliance of a nation were to be bought 
at the cheap rate of a plentiful supper and the precious boon of an 
association M'ith a select company of New York aldermen, with 
women to match. On this principle Thackeray's vocation were 
gone. Every snob would catch liim up and invite him to dinner, 
and gratitude would seal the mouth of the caustic satirist. 

Strange to say, the Yankees who winced under the sting of irony 
and satire, seem now to be as impervious to these lighter missiles, 
and to the heavy artillery of invective, as their own iron-clads. The 
abuse they return with interest. They stand up with matchless 
effrontery against the condemnation of the Avhole world, and impu- 
dently claim to be the model people of the globe. 

The monarchs of Eui-ope rejoice in the discredit the Yankees 
brought upon the cause of republicanism, and feel that their example 
of democratic misgovernment has strengthened the cause of despot- 
ism more than mighty armies could have done. That brilliant light 
of the model republic which once threatened to be a firebrand to the 
monarchical system of the world has now become a beacon to warn 
the nations of the perils of democracy. Such is the work the Yan- 
kees have accomjilished in the last three years. 

Yet in the midst of their confusion and disgrace, with organized 
anarchy enthroned over them, shaniefully beaten in the field by a 
nation of a third of their numbers, they have the impudence to assert 
that Europe is amazed and awe-struck at the stability of their insti- 
tutions. They obstinately refuse to see themselves and their deeds 
from tlie stand-point that they are viewed by the rest of the world. 
Certainly, for their present happiness, they may be thankful that 
they are blind ; let them rejoice that nature, when she affixes the 
brand of vice and meanness upon her creatures, kindly deprives them 
of the power of appreciating their misfortunes. 



142 



NOVEMBER 25, 1863. 



There is but a single ground upon which the privilege of fsnp- 
plying their pi'isoners in the Confederacy with rations and other 
necessaries can be accorded to the Yankee Government. Of the two 
]jorns of the dilemma so tauntingly offered us, we can accept only 
that which exposes our poverty in defending our humanity. We 
cannot acknowledge that we are, in the malignant language of our 
enemies, " desperately barbarous," and therefore neglectful of the 
usages of civilized war. We must, then, gratify their hate by avow- 
ing that we are "desperately poor," and, being unable to supply 
these suffering patriots Avith the numerous comforts their grateful 
country desires for them, we are forced to devolve upon theii- com- 
patriots, native or adopted, the pleasing task of furnishing those 
luxuries which the ravages of war or the strictness of the blockade 
preclude the Confederacy from giving them. 

The Yankee policy with respect to the exchange of prisoners has 
been clearly exposed. It is based upon the simple ])rinciple that our 
men are intrinsically worth more than theirs, and that if they con- 
tinue to hold our prisoners and to allow their own to remain in our 
hands they will be the gainers. Such, in fact, is the whole scheme 
of the war. If, by dint of superior numbers and a lavish expendi- 
ture of blood, they can inflict such losses i;pon the South as to ren- 
der it incapable of further resistance, their point, they think, is gained. 
It is \iseless to say that this reasoning is as stupid in a military, as 
it is shocking, in a moral point of A'iew. But it carries conviction to 
the minds of a set of men whose conduct has proceeded upon the 
assumption that superiority of numbers rendered success a mathe- 
matical certainty. 

While this savage and cold-blooded idea is at the bottom of their 
reasoning, they are aware that it is necessary to cloak their ])urposes 
under as decent a veil as they can find. It will not do to tell their 
soldiers, or the classes from wliich they expect to recruit their armies, 
that they regard them merely as fighting animals, to be used spar- 
ingly, or sacrificed wantonly, according to the varying necessities 
of the case. It would be nunons frankly to avow that they are de- 
lighted to retain a certain number of Confederates in prison at the 
expense of an equal or even greater number of their oavu men. An 
excuse must be found which will throAV the odium of refusing ex- 
change, upon the Confederacy. Yankee ingenuitj^, unhampered by 
the restraints of an adherence to truth, can easily accom])lish this. 
Is the Confederate Government prepared to aid them in this notable 
scheme ? Are we to submit to the inauguration of a system which 
dooms our prisoners to hopeless captivity ? Shall we allow these 
invaders of our soil to be supplied with all the luxuries which the 
abundance of the means at the disposal of their Government can fur- 
nish them, while our brave men are to suffer the rigors of a North- 
ern climate, to be exposed to the brutal tyranny of Yankee officials, 
or to the no less repugnant exhibition of an insidious appearance of 



143 

kiiulness Avhicli aims, in conjunction witli the depressing influence of 
time and captivity, at sapping their allegiance to their country? 
It is earnestly to be hoped that no sucli concession ^vill be made to 
our faithless foe. We have sought to carry out tlie cartel of ex- 
change in good faith. Let us not allow the Yankees to take advan- 
tage of their own Avrong, and, while they avoid the odium attaching 
to the desertion of their ]irisoners, retain the advantage of neutral- 
izing thousands of our soldiers. 

That such is their object there can be no doubt. The unwilling 
tril)ute of an enemy's ))raise belongs, in the fullest measure, to our 
gallant soldiers. Gladly would the Yankee Government, in order 
to deprive us of their services, agree to lodge them at the Fifth 
Avenue or the Metropolitan, and to feed them upon turtle soup and 
cham])agne. It would be a vastly cheaper way of disposing of them 
than maintaining armies of hirelings to oppose them in the field. 

Let our enemies be distinctly informed that their prisoners are as 
well treated as the condition of the country permits ; that they are 
not exposed to as great privations as our own brave troops; and, 
that if they are forced to drink the muddy water of the James, it is 
a hardship shared with them by the citizens of Richmond, who 
have learned to bear it with fortitude. Let them be told, more- 
over, that if real scarcity is to try our people, it is neither proper nor 
prudent that they should witness the spectacle of thousands of well- 
fed men who have been the direct agents of their own sufl:erings, 
while they are pinched with hunger. Common sense Avill show that 
grave consequences might ensue from such a state of things. Let 
them be told that if they wish to relieve these men, it can be done 
at once by the legitimate operation of the cartel. 



NOVEMBER 26, 18G3. 

The result of General Bragg's useless and unsuccessful attempt « 
to hold a worthless position in front of Chattanooga, will not disap- 1 
point any over-sanguine anticipations of the public mind. The 
Confederate army did very little harm* from Lookout Mountain to 
the P^ederal forces in Chattanooga. LTnder these circumstances, 
a retreat to the old field of Chickamauga appeared reasonable and 
was expected by the country. But General Bragg held his position 
until forced from it. 

How has it happened that, with his splendid array and with 
unquestioned superiority of position, he has sustained an acknowl- 
edged reverse ? Tiie answer will be made with considerable unani- 
mity, that General Bragg is incompetent to command — that he is 
maintained in his important position by Mr. Davis against the 
judgment and protest of both country and array; that neither troops 
nor officers have confidence in him ; that he has lost battle after 
battle by a faulty arrangement of his troops and want of military 
talent; and that it is right and reasonable to suppose that he has 
lost another in the same way. 



144 

The result is, that we have lost on Lookout Mountain the advan- 
tages gained in the great and bloody battle of Chickamauga. That 
battle must be fought again, either in the next fortnight or in the 
spring of 1804. Now, will Mr. Jefierson Davis any longer peisist 
in maintriining General Bragg in the command of the army on 
which depends the fate of the Gulf States? This is an inquiry 
which will be anxiously made by every citizen who reads the news 
this morning, and who really desires the success of this Confederacy. 
If that general is kept in place in despite of all the proofs that he is 
the wrong man for such a business, it is possible that the Confederate 
army may incur a disaster on the banks of the Chickamauga com- 
mensurate with its former victory. /But we refuse to believe that 
the consequences, even of a defeat in a general battle there, will be 
any thing like those which hasty minds assume. They would not be 
the loss of a State or penetration to the Gulf. The Federal army 
could not advance five miles farthei*, even if victorious, without 
risking annihilation, nor will the Gulf States be subjugated by the 
loss of one battle or twenty battles, unless they are inhabited by a 
very different breed from that which peoples Virginia. 



NO VEMBER 27, 18 63. 

The shameful and lamentable ignorance which Europeans gener- 
ally exhibit in regard to all matters ])ertaining to America, has long 
been a fruitful theme for all book-making tourists from the United 
States. Without stopping to inquire whether the complainants are 
justified in their indignation by their own superior knowledge of 
foreign parts — without stopping to examine them on the character 
of the Germanic Confederation, and the number, names, and geogra- 
phy of the States which compose that union, or to exact a minute 
description of the territorial domains of Austria, — we are willing to 
concede the ignorance alleged, although we doubt whether it is as 
shameful to the one party, or as lamentable to the other, as it has 
been commonly represented. " Aside from the relations of trade, the 
interest of educated Europeans in America is about as lively as our 
interest in Australia or New Zealand. That we have attracted 
more attention in the last twenty years— that some American books 
have been read and republished on the other side of the water, is 
due, partly to the spread of a cosmopolitan spirit, which welcomes 
to its catholic embrace the last effusions of the Timbuctoomuse and 
the last novel of Chin Ling and Mien Fun, as well as the latest 
publications of Harper and Appleton — partly to the Mutual Admi- 
ration Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Company, the working of which 
has profited the shareholders and amused the iiiitiated for many a 
day. Of course, Yankee vanity would not admit that even benighted 
Europeans could be ignorant of the vast superiority of Americans 
in the sciences ; but we admit it freely. Sad to tell, Morse is not so 
well known as Faraday, nor Benjamin Peirce as much revered as 



145 

Newton or Euler. The very name " American," which the citizens 
of tlie United States persistently appropiiate to themselves, often 
seems to convey no definite idea of nationality to people unaccus- 
tomed to contrast themselves with the denizens of otiier quarters of 
the globe; for no inhabitant of Europe ever says, with becoming 
pride, " I am an European." The Germans, for instance, who are 
wont to mark sharply the lines of their " narrower fatherland," and 
to distinguish accurately between IlohenzoUern-Sitimaringen and 
Hohenzollern-IIechingon — between Reuss-Greiz and Reuss-Schleiz — 
are sorely puzzled when their minds are allowed to expatiate over a 
whole boundless continent ; and we cannot wonder that, at German 
tables, gentlemen from Terra del Fuego and Patagonia have been 
solemnly introduced to their "countrymen" of New York and 
Baltimoie. As to the interior of Europe, some crude notions about 
primeval forests and oceanic rivers, George Washington and the War 
of Independence; some vague doubts as to the complexion of the 
inhabitants ; some general conception oT a country half Eldorado 
and half Botany Bay ; some dim recollection of grisly bears, opos- 
sums and cockatoos, constitute the American idea of many people, 
who certainly are well-bred, and who are at least as well informed as 
their neighbors. Carolina rice, Virginia tobacco, and New Orleans 
cotton, are current terms ; but Presidents were made and unmade 
without exciting the curiosity of the great European Sleepy Hollow ; 
and the war of"l812; — the Avar with the Seminole Indians ; and the 
war with Mexico, are not as well remembered as the exploits of the 
vikings and the border feuds of barons who died half a millennium 
ago. 

But American travellers have long been known to Europe. Time 
was, when none but gentlemen crossed the water, first to visit their 
English kindred, and then to make the grand tour ; but that time 
passed away soon after the Revolution ; and for years and years it 
has been advisable for every American of breeding to preserve, as 
far as possible, a strict incognito while on his travels abroad. 
Americans are but too well known ; too well known to the inn- 
keeper, who speculates on their extravagance, and even then hardly 
repays himself for the trouble which they give ; too well known in 
every haunt of low dissipation in the great capitals of Europe ; too 
well known for the comfort of some of their own number, as many 
a man can testify, who abhorred the spread-eagle passport Avhich he 
was doomed to carry in his pocket, even before that remarkable bird 
assumed the character of a carrion crow. Extremely annoying to 
the Southerners, in days gone by, was the fraternity thrust upon them 
by every stray Yankee ; and among the various little comforts of 
secession, not the smallest was the full release from any Yankee 
claims to brotherhood on the score of a common nationality. 

But although as one nation we may have been slighted hereto- 
fore, as two nations we are attracting attention enough now that all 
Europe has found out that there is a great struggle going on here. 
The conservatives of European society are generally with the South ; 
the radicals with the North. But all this partisanship is sheer dilet- 



146 

tantism. It means nothinj^. If we are defeated, Freedom's shrieks 
will be drowned in the bustle of other revolutions, or faintly re- 
echoed in the groans of a degraded and unpitied nation. If we are 
successful, the new Confederacy will be a nine days' wonder, and 
we shall at last have the honor of entering into the " system of civi- 
lized powers," 

As this latter issue is, for the present, nothing but "a melancholy 
9.iti7imn " — as a quaint writer has it — it may be as well for us to 
look more narrowly into the way in which the Confederacy is un- 
officially represented in Europe. We had our suspicions, evcMi before 
*' diplomatic dispatches " had been intercepted by the enemy, that 
the Confederates now in Europe were hardly a shade better than 
the Federals of former days. It is a |>ity, if it is so, that we have 
but the dregs and the froth of our society to represent us abroad ; 
and yet it must be. High-spirited men would not seek Europe in 
such times as these except under a solemn conviction of public duty. 
Great souls scorn to save themselves apart from their country. But 
we might hope that the Southerners who are abroad, conscious of 
the attention which they must attract, would at least be studious to 
avoid the offensive characteristics of the Yankees. They should re- 
member that they are defendants in a suit which is not decided — a 
suit which involves honor as well as property, and that a decent 
sobriety of demeanor would be advisable during the progress of the 
case. How much better would it have been if, at the outbreak of 
the war, our Government could have ordered back by a stern ukase 
all Confedei'ate sojourners in Europe (except those Avho could give 
proof of some rational occupation), under penalty of disfranchise- 
ment and confiscation of their property. Yes ! better appear a 
magnificent nationality because unknown, than imjustly condemned 
because imperfectly known by our would-be representatives. We 
are not afraid that our merits will be exaggerated by the European 
public. The heroism of our true men is worthy of any age. And 
this is the only reputation we desire. As for diplomacy, culture, 
refinement and all the minor morals of social life, we will waive our 
claims to them until we ascertain who our representatives are. 
Some of our agents seem to be foreigners ; and, while we may make 
use of their accomplishments, we can claim no national credit for 
them. We may be wrong. They may be native Southrons ; but in 
all the nomenclature of Southern families, Ave find no such names as 
those they bear. 



DECEMBER 1, 18 63. 

/ 

It appears that Grant is doing his best to fulfil the arrogant 
orders of his masters, and that Bragg has been getting himself 
whipped again near Ringgold. Never, perhaps, in history, has the 
consequence of incompetent generalship, and want of confidence be- 
tween commander and troops, been more manifest than at ]»resent in 
northern Georgia. We have no doubt that General Bragg has 



147 

done the best that he could, and for all the ill that has T)of}Ulcn him 
and us, Mr. Davis alone is responsible. It is clear, that if he persists 
longer in the pitiful perversity which has retained Bragg in the 
command, in spite of renionsti-ance, in spite of facts, in spite of 
common sense and duty, that the army of Georgia will be disorgan- 
ized and lost. Similar policy in the Southwest has already cost the 
Confederacy a great army, — one of 42,000 men, originally good 
soldiers ; but they were disorganized by repeated defeats, in which 
the President's incompetent jwotege was generally surprised, and 
always routed, with the loss of artillery, and finally shut up by him 
in a town invested on land and Avater, where surrender was only a 
question of time. Is the Confederacy about to lose a second army ? 

If General Bragg is longer intrusted with its destiny, the danger 
of such a catastrophe is really great. Let us hope that INIr. Davis 
is not weak enough to tiifle longer with the interests of his country, 
and that he will immediately appoint some other man to the com- 
mand. Who should that man be ? Any man is better than Bragg, 
whatever his abilities ; for towards no other man will the satue dis- 
trust be felt by the troops ; and, of all lackings in a general, want 
of confidence, faith, and affection, on the part of his ofticers and men, 
is the worst. It would be difticult to find another, save, perhaps, 
Pemberton and Holmes, who would not inspire more confidence 
than General Bragg, and almost any change would be, in this most 
essential particular," a benefit to the Confederate arniy in Georgia. 

But if it is asked, who, among the officers of high rank,^ would 
most ])roperly replace General Bragg, scarcely any man of candor 
could fail to answer with the name of Joseph Johnston. He is, 
indeed, the only man available who can at once rally, reorganize, 
and restore that unfortunate army. He has, it is true, been much 
abused by the sycophants of power, but all know that he is a gener- 
al of first-class ability and knowledge. It is often said by impar- 
tial persons that he has done little in the war; that Manassas, 
Williamsburg, and Seven Pines are all his battles. But this much 
more may be said of him — that he has never incurred a single 
defeat, ami never lost an army, not even a brigade, not a regiment. 

It is, however, certain that the achievements of General John- 
ston in this war have not been commensurate Avith • the pixblic 
opinion of his ability ; he has never had a chance, nor is there i-eason 
to hope that the President Avill so far forget his individuality as to 
give him the command of that army. If after Manassas, Johnston 
and Beauregard had written briefly thus : Glory to God and Davis, 
Bull Run's ours — they Avould have been Avise, and might have ren- 
dered their country many services since, which they have not had 
the means of doing. Unfortunately, and unwisely, they Avrote long 
dispatches, said little about the President, and gave to him no 
glory at all. From that day to this they have had no chance that 
the President could keep from them. For some cases already 
beyond hope, they have been summoned, to serve as scape-goats. 
One of these patients, howevei', Beauregard has redeemed and re- 
stored, and if the matter grows worse in Georgia, perhaps the Ex- 



\ 



148 

ecutive will remember that a Joseph Johnston still exists. Things 
are not at that pass now, though it is too evident that they soon 
will be, if the command is not instantly changed. There are many 
good officers, — and any of them is better than a general who has 
always been favored by his Government and always frowned by 
fortune. , 



DECEMBER 2, 1863. 

In calculating the chances of their ultimate success, our enemies 
have always counted largely, or pretended to count largely, on the 
weakness entailed upon ixs l)y the aristocratic character of our social 
organism. Certainly they have long spoken and written, and still 
speak and write, as if they believed that the Southern people are 
under the sway of a small slave-owning oligarchy, and that it is 
only necessary to get these factious noblemen out of the way in 
order to revive the Union feeling. If they are not in earnest, Ave 
cannot conceive what they mean by repeating the falsehood, unless 
they wish to swell their collection of " Useless Lies, which nobody 
can believe" as a companion volume to their compilations of "Use- 
ful Facts, which everybody ought to know ;" or unless they hope 
to verify the remark of Henry IV, of France, " They will lie so 
long that they will wind up by telling the tx-uth." However, from 
time to time, Ave have seen signs of Aveariness in these jabbering 
theorists, and the more adA^anced disciples of the abolitionist school 
are bent on extending the area of extermination beyond " the oli- 
garchs," until it embraces the Avhole Avhite population of the 
South. The first step in this task they have assumed is, to be the dis- 
persion of the " rebel armies," — a costly step. The next Avill be the 
annihilation of the guerrilla bands that Avill infest the country. 
Then, the gibbet and the axe ; then, an army of executioners, im- 
ported Chinese, the most expert headsmen in the world, and natiA^e 
Yankees, Avho will soon throw the famous invention of Dr. Guillotin 
into the shade, and make the ghost of Sanson blush at his awkAvard- 
ness. 

Among" the valuable auxiliaries to this depletive course, they 
count deportation and voluntary exile. Where the future Cayenne 
of the Yankee Government is to be, we do not knoAV. We may be 
huddled together in the everglades of Florida; in Okeefinokee 
swamp ; on the keys of the Gulf; or, by a treaty Avith the Czar, be 
transferred to the regions about Tobolsk and Irkutsk. The volun- 
tary exiles will be scattered over the face of the globe. 

From the very first, exile was put doAvn deliberately among the 
chances of the war ; but we fear that the time is passed Avhen this 
heroic determination of the best people of the South Avould have 
appalled the Yankees. We suspect, rather, that they desire nothing 
better than a general exodus of the rebels, and so fiir from refusing 
to let us go, they would help us on our Avay into the wilderness, 
and lend us any number of gun-boats and transports if the Red Sea 



149 

should not repeat its miraculous division. Indeed, tlic Northern press 
has given us numerous liiiits to the effect that it is time lor us to col- 
lect our shattered hosts and be off to Mexico, with such hag and hag- 
gage as they have left us. Here again the old fallacy of an oli- 
garchy peeps out. "If," they say to themselves, "if the ])riests, and 
the nobles, and the warriors of the Southern peojjle were to ' emi- 
grate' in a body, we could easily reduce the rest to bondage." 
But the priests, and the nobles, and the warriors, with their wives 
and children, would simj)ly be the whole Southern people ; and 
Brother Jonathan and Uncle Tom would alone be left to discuss the 
terms of suri'ender. 

The truth is, matters will have to come to a far worse pass before 
it will be true j^atriotism in any Southerner to think seriously of 
abandoning his native land. Every now and then we hear of per- 
sons who have slipped out through the blockade, and who, evidently, 
have no intention of slipping in again. The temjitation is strong, 
and we have no quarrel with human nature because it prefers luxury 
to privation, any kind of peace to any kind of war. Most of these 
blockade-runners are wealthy, and some of them have become wealthy 
by the war, or, in other words, at the expense of those who con- 
tinued to bear the grievous burden from which this gentry have 
withdrawn their shoulders. Let them go. All cannot get into the 
life-boat when the ship is sinking, and then they will do as much 
good by sending back brandy and overcoats to the shivering pas- 
sengers on the wreck, and they will describe so well the heart-rend- 
ing scenes on board the foundering vessel to enthusiastic audiences 
around the breakfost-table and the tea-urn. But the ship is not sink- 
ing, and the enthusiastic audiences will soon lose their respect for men 
who took fright at the snapping of a mast or the springing of a leak ; 
and the fellow-passengers of those who deserted the vessel with such 
convenient despair will hardly wish to see them on board again. 
As for those who venture abroad without any capital except their heads 
and hands, they Avill find that the change is not unconditionally to 
their advantage. It is one thing to ramble through Europe Avith a 
circular-letter of credit, another to elbow one's way to a livelihood 
through a crowxl of eager and better qualified competitors. Our 
Confederate bread may lack savor, but the European bread of depend- 
ence would be too bitter salt ; and while our road to glory may be 
a Via Dolorosa, it is not as hard a path as Dante found the mount- 
ing and descending of a patron's stairs. All employment vouch- 
saled to a Confederate would be regarded as charity, and sympathy 
would often look marvellously like insult. Although we do not give 
full credence to the exaggerations of the Northern press, we must 
believe that there is a considerable number of Confederates in Can- 
ada, and we fear that the Yankee accounts of their condition have 
some foundation in truth. Let their fate be a warning. Better en- 
dure the discomforts of our present state than accept the patronage 
of "cheap Englishmen," as Canadians have been well styled. 

It may be said that the class to which these remarks apply is 
small. True. Our hope and stay of the army cannot emigrate. 



150 

But there was some foundation for the incTio;nation which the French 
people manifested toward the emigres in the Revolution ; and the 
example of our emigres, tliough it cannot spread very far, is perni- 
cious. While it may not be necessary as yet to adopt any legal 
measures in this matter, still the moral sense of the community ought 
not to fall asleep over this case of conscience as it has done over so 
many others. 

DECEMBER 3, 18 63. 

A THOUGHTFUL biographer of Ignatius Loyola, while vindicating 
the claims of his subject to true greatness, has tersely expressed the 
true secret of the eminence attained by the founder of the Society 
of Jesus in the brief sentence : " The discerning of spirits is the 
foimdation of powei\" 

We neecl not ransack history for illustrations. They come un- 
bidden. Every man, who has succeeded in establishing an empire, 
or in creating a nation, has owed his success to his insight into char- 
acter. The knowledge of the human heart is the basis of the science 
of D-overnment. Two things the true ruler must understand — the 
character of the people whom he governs — the capacity of the agents 
whom he employs. Official position will not give a man this insighti 
The best intentions in the Avorld will not give it. Men of the best inten- 
tions have often been the worst governors. The most resolute will can- 
not give it. The will has no power over an organ that does not exist. 
^ How little this people has been understood by the men whom an 
inscrutable Providence has made our official representatives every 
step of this revolution has shown. The great body has always been 
far in advance of its supposed leaders. The generals — as often hap- 
pens in war — have brought up the rear, but, as ought not to happen 
in war, they always keep in the rear. Had those in authority 
sounded the depth of national feeling, our army would have been 
as large in 1861 as it was in the summer of 1862 ; our finances in 
1863 would have been in no worse plight than in 1861 ; the navy 
would now have a tangible existence and the State Department be 
something more than a Confederate reading-room. But, as it is, 
our whole history, thus far, has served merely as a commentary on 
Machiavelli's famous thesis, that a nation is wiser and more constant 
than its leading men. Had a little discretion been shown, the Gov- 
ernment might now have the enthusiastic support of the millions of 
the South. Our honor Avas interested in upholding what seemed to 
be our choice, and no one wished, by unnecessary opposition, to lend- 
a handle to our enemies. But when the people found that their 
voice was utterly disregarded ; that every suggestion, which did 
not proceed from an official quarter, was looked upon as an imper- 
tinence; that dire necessity alone compelled the Government to 
measures which had been advocated months before by every reflect- 
ing man ; that wrong courses Avere persisted in long after the evil 
ett'ects, which were predicted, had set in — it is not to be wondered 
that the. people began to dissociate themselves from the Govern- 



151 

ment — to support Its existence Avithout' upliokliiig its authority — 
to acquiesce, instead of applauding. It is some comfort, we grant, 
to have a President wlio does not disgrace us by IIoosier-English, 
but it is a comfort wliich is dearly bouglit at the price of a Mem- 
mingcr and a Bragg, 

For tliis is, after all, the great grievance ; the utter want of judg- 
ment in the selection of our officials — high and low — civil and mili- 
tary ; and, what is still worse, the unreasoning, selfish obstinacy 
which retains the incompetent in their posts. The choice once made, 
if it does not justify itself, eVery thing is done to justify it ; and good 
money is thrown after bad with a prodigality which would be ridicu- 
lous if that good money were not the life-blood of our nation. Per- 
sonal considerations may not consciously lie at the bottom of these 
obnoxious appointments, but there is no bias which so easily eludes 
self-inspection — none which is so patent to the world at large, as 
favoritism ; and the current expression, " The President's Pets," 
shows what is the popular view of the matter. In military com- 
mand, the confidence of his soldiers is an essential element in the 
success of a general. No matter what the cause of distrust, the 
distrust itself is sufficient to disqualify the commander for his posi- 
tion ; but if that distrust is confirmed by repeated disasters, it is not 
worth Avhile to argue the point on any grounds of which a court of 
inquiry could take cognizance. " Murad, the Unlucky," may owe his 
ill-luck to himself, or he may owe it to circumstances ; but soldiers 
are superstitious, and do not want any heroes of a hundred defeats. 
On the other hand, popular favor may be misplaced. /But how often 
has it been misplaced since the beginning of the war ? Was the 
public wrong in its estimate of Jackson before his threatened re- 
moval ? How do we know that the public is wrong in its estimate 
of Price ? 

It has been suggested long ago that the President wns guided in 
the selection of his cabinet officers by the example of Napoleon III. 
— that he wanted only clerks, not statesmen, so that the real power 
might be his, and all the credit redound to him. But if he has made 
his appointments in good faith, it must be admitted that " the dis- 
cerning of spirits" is no part of Mr. Davis's encyclopedia of the 
sciences. This is the point in which he fails to reach the romantic 
standard which he has doubtless set up for himself Agamemnon 
does not at first present a very imposing figure in the wise old Epos, 
but the careful student learns to respect him more when he sees 
how the " king of men" strengthens himself in the aflfeclions of his 
adherents, and wins bnck the revolted sjiirit of Achilles. 

Under this severe trial of patience and devotion, the attitude of 
the Southern people is sublime. We hear complaints, we hear ex- 
postulations ; but we have no "factious opposition," such as admin- 
istration organs would scent out in every honest criticism of govern- 
mental measures. The country has borne every provocation from 
the President, fixed on them by the early fates, in heroic silence. 
He has taught us, not only in his proclamations, but also by his 
.policy, " to cease from man," and in lofty faith, to look to God for our 



152 



help. It is very pious. But is it very wise? Will resignation 
sweeten ruin ? Had not the nation better think of altering the 
course of the ship ? When Hercules saw the condition of the Au- 
gean stable, he did not roll up his eyes to Jupiter, but turned a river 
into it. 



DECEMBER 10, 18 63. 

Much eagerness prevails to catch the first words from Congress 
indicative of the temper and intentions with which it has assem- 
bled in this most important session ; and for that reason we surren- 
der our space to-day to the reports. Although, therefore, the able 
message of the President possesses an interest and importance which 
arrests attention and provokes much comment, we cannot do more 
than recapitulate the chief points. 

^ We cannot but admire the case with which Mr, Davis glides 
over "grave military reverses," and the delicacy with which he omits 
every allusion to their causes. In half a sentence he recounts the 
surrender of an entire army at Vicksburg; but does not tell Congress 
whose orders shut up the army in that trap, and set aside the orders 
of General Johnston for its evacuation when the field had been lost. 
He refers to the invasion of Arkansas and " the control of the enemy" 
which has followed, but forgets the favorite general whose command 
had been the source of stagnation, mismanagement, distrust, and 
disaster. He stigmatizes with bitterness the demoralization and 
misconduct, in other words, the cowardice of the troops which lately 
broke and ran on Lookout Mountain, but does not state the cause 
of that demoralization, confusion, and cowardice to have been the 
fact that they were utterly destitute of confidence in a leader, who 
had been first put into a position to mortify a hero, and maintained • 
there long after results had proven him incompetent to the army he 
commanded, and to the country he had lost. In telling of Long- 
street's bootless errand to Knoxville, he might have informed us 
what military genius conceived the idea of dividing a small army 
into two detachments, and separating them by rivers, moimtains, 
and hundreds of miles, in the presence of a much larger army, at the 
moment when the latter was re-ceiving heavy re-enforcements. Al- 
though the message is long, a candid statement of the whole truth 
upon those points would be a useful addition to the two concise 
pages devoted to the important events, which have rendered the 
history of the last five months a sombre chapter in the annals of 
the war. / 

That portion of the message which relates to what the President 
is kind enough to c;ill our Foi'eign Relations, is an admirable com- 
pendium of all the insults we have received from the British Minis- 
try, and of all the failures of our own Government to aid the coun- 
try by diplomacy. The conclusion, which is presented with crystal- 
line clearness, is one which this journal often expressed at the out- 
set of the matter, that we have neither help nor sympathy to expect 



153 

from Europe, — that there will be no intervention, except such as 
may come from tlie selfish interests of Franco, or to prevent a n^con- 
struction — and that the Confederacy has nothing further to do in the 
wny of Foreign Relations, but to " wait for areturninp: sense of jus- 
tice." Mr. Davis might have added that it is possible for us to do 
that much without supj^orting a State Department, and without paying 
twelve thousand dollars in gold to each of a numerous and distin- 
guished diplomatic corps, which holds no communication with any 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, other than his excellency, Mr. Judah P. 
Benjamin, at Richmond. 

The section of the message devoted to the absorbing subject of 
the currency, is a long and copious narrative of facts proving incon- 
testably that the Government has been destitute of foresight and 
good mrmagement in all its financial affairs. The story, hoAvever, is 
so told as to make it appear that the chief faults were those of Con- 
gress in not making wiser laws, and of the Yankees in continuing the 
■war for a time so much exceeding the expectations of Mr. Davis and 
Mr. Memminger. The latter s.age, as we learn from the message, 
has presented in his report " the outlines of a system," for reform- 
ing his currency; but his report has not yet been printed. 

On the present force and organization of the army he gives little 
information. On the interesting and tender question of substitution 
he is brief nnd undefined. But so much can scarcely be said of the 
recommendation to abolish all exemptions, and put every man in the 
country, old and young, on the pay-roll of the army, and allowing 
the President, his Secretary, and other officials, his creatures, to 
give the privileges of exemption to whom they please, under the 
name of " detail." Such a project would not increase the army by 
one man. It would, however, double the expense of the military 
force ; it would also open the widest door that ever gaped to receive 
the ruin of society, by bribery, corruption, fraud, favoritism infinite- 
ly ramified, private malice infinitely gratified. Perpetual martial 
law all over the land would be but a trifle to a law which would 
place every man, old or young, sick or well, whatever his occupa- 
tion or its necessity to the material and political existence of the 
nation, under the thumb of the present office-holders at Richmond, 
"with full power to order them to Arkansas if they did not kiss 
their feet, or to stay at home if they paid them well. 

The rest of the message is devoted to the Trans-Mississippi De- 
partment ; the navy of Mallory, and the cruisers which arc hap2jily 
beyond his reach ; to the Post-Office, which appears at least to pay 
its expenses. The story of the Yankee cartel is clearly told ; but no 
reasonable excuse is made for the unprecedented indulgence which 
permits the enemy to send luxuries to Belle Isle, while our soldiers 
starve in captivity on Johnson's Island. An eloquent recapitulation 
of the barbarities of the enemy concludes the message, which con- 
tains no account of the motives which induced Mr. Davis to threaten . 
retaliation and not to fulfil his threats. The entire document is 
written in excellent style, and the sprucest English. Indeed, the 
same may be said of all the President's messages. If we kept a 
11 



154 

President for that purpose alone, we could not make a better selec- 
tion ; for the merit of Mr. Davis is, that he possesses a degree of 
literary talent which is adequate to the coni position of an official 
document. If he would confine his public communications to these 
things, and avoid juggling telegrams and popular harangues, he 
might descend to posterity as a worthy rival of another ruler who 
never said the foolish thing, and never did the wise one. 



DECEMBER 12, 18G3. 

A RESOLUTION hos hccu introduced in the Senate which may 
prove the source of a great reform in the Confederate Administra- 
tion. A law is proposed to limit the term of office for the cabinet 
mipisters to two years. 

There are certainly two classes among those wdio speak, and pre- 
tend, at least, to think about public affiiirs. One would shut every 
mouth that is not filled with idle, wicked praise of those who have 
fi'ittered away the might of the South. They would even deny that 
there are any disasters. The currency is admirable. Chickamauga 
Avas a glorious Confederate victory. Bragg, Peniberton, and Lovell, 
are beloved servants of the South, and deserve medals of honor. The 
Confederate navy is all right. Our European prospect has been 
brightening every day since the war began. Or, if it is found neces- 
sary, at times, to acknowledge something to the contrary of this, we 
are imperiously informed that the welfare of the country requires the 
country to hold its tongue, shut its eyes, and especially not to utter 
a word of censure, or to search after the causes and the authors of 
misfortune. There is a large number of weak, low-minded persons 
who like this advice, and call it patriotic. With neither fortitude, 
nor honesty, nor courage to look the truth in the face, they want to 
be told every morning that nothing is wrong, and that we are get- 
ting along swimmingly. But can no one, for the love of his own 
skin, be prevailed upon to think for one moment, where we are 
s-wimming, whci'e Ave are going on this fine road, where this system 
leads ? 

Many things are wrong ! We have suffered vast misfortunes. 
Nothing happens in this world without a cause, and like causes will 
produce like effects to the end of time. If we, the sovereign people 
of this country, refuse to inquire into the causes of the military, finan- 
cial, diplomat ic, administrative misfortunes which have befallen this 
country, and to remedy, or, at least, to change or interrupt their opera- 
tion, those causes will continue to oj)erate, Avill conthme to produce 
disaster after disaster, progressively worse, until they arrive at their 
natural conclusion — the subjugation, the catastrophe and death of the 
nation. What man in his senses can, with candor, question these 
truths ? W^hat levity, what wickedness, to refuse them consideration 
because they are paitiful, or because it is pleasant and popular to tell 
the old women that all is well ! 

If many of our affairs have been mismanaged, the persons who 



155 

constitute the Government have mismanaged them. They are the 
causes and the sources of misfortune, and tlioy are the things to 
change, if we are not careless of our fates. It is imj)o^silile to be- 
lieve that they have not done as well as they could, but that has not 
been well. Tiiey have lacked foresight and ability. That much is 
proven; proven by the results; ])roveu by their fruits ; proven by 
the spectacle before the eye that looks on the map of the Confeder- 
acy. They have not been competent to manage the business which 
they midertook ; and, instead of amusing ourselves with lies about 
open facts which deceive nobody, common sense and the instinct of 
self-preservation should make us strive to expel them, if their own 
consciences will not cause them to withdraw. Where will you find 
any better? says subserviency. Frankly, anybody who has not 
proven — proven himself by his acts to be bad. 

Here is a law proposed which will "enable the country to reach 
the sources of incompetency. It will produce something like ac- 
countability and i-esponsibility in the executive departments. Fix 
things as one may, the heads of those departments do control, have 
controlled, and must always control many of the chief movements, 
as well as the infinite details of government. A narrow-minded, 
short-sighted, inefficient man in one of those posts communicates 
his character through every ramification of the business over which 
he presides. It is difficult to imagine an objection against the expe- 
diency of instituting that check on the course of folly or corruption. 
Such a limit can do no harm, and may do iufinite good in a Govern- 
ment like this. He who has proven his wisdom, energy, and integrity, 
by his acts in office, will always be approved ; and it is right that he 
who is a load of stupidity, listlessness, or corruption, should not be 
borne on the back of a groaning people during six long years, in 
which they must struggle for their lives with a remorseless enemy. 



DECEMBER 3 1, 18 63. 

To-day closes the gloomiest year of our struggle. No sanguine 
hope of foreign intervention buoys up the spirits of the Confederate 
public, as at the end of 1861. No brilliant victory like that of 
Fredericksburg encourages us to look forward to a speedy and suc- 
cessful termination of the war, as in the last weeks of 1862. The 
advantages gained at Chancellorsville and Chickamauga have had 
heavy counterpoises. The oue victory led to the fall of Jackson 
and the deposition of Hooker; the other led first to nothing, and 
then to the indelible disgrace of Lookout Mountain. The Confed- 
eracy has been cut in twain along the line of the Mississippi, and 
our enemies are steadily pushing forward their plans for bisecting 
the eastern moiety. No wonder, then, that the annual advent of 
the reign of mud is hailed by all classes v^ath a sense of relief^ — by 
those who think and feel aright, as a precious season to prepare for 
trying another fall with our potent adversary. 

Meanwhile, the financial chaos is becoming wilder and wilder. 



156 

Hoarrlers keep a more resolute grasp than ever on the necessaries 
of life. Non-producers, who are at the same time non-speculators, 
are suffering more and more. What was once competence has 
become poverty, poverty has become penury, penury is lapsing into 
pauperism. Any mechanical occupation is more profitable than the 
most intellectual profession ; the most accomplished scholars in the 
Confederacy would be glad to barter their services for food and 
raiment ; and, in the complete upturning of our social relations, the 
only happy people are those who have black hearts or black skins. 
The cry of scarcity resounds through the land, raised, by the pro- 
ducers in their greed for gain, re-echoed by the consumers in their 
premature dread of starvation and nakedness. We are all in the 
dark, and men are more or less cowards in the dark. We do not 
know what our resources are, and no one can tell us whether we 
shall have a pound of beef to eat at the close of 1864, or a square 
inch of leather to patch the last shoe in the Confederacy. Unrea- 
soning confidence has been succeeded by depression as unreasoning, 
and the Yankees are congratulating themselves on the I'esult, which 
they hawk about as the " beginning of the end." 

Theologians will tell us that the disasters of the closing year 
are the punishment of our sins. This is true enough ; but a cheap 
penitence will not save us from the evil consequences. There is no 
forgiveness for political sins, and the results will as certainly follow 
as if there had been no repentance. As all sins are, in a higher 
sense, intellectual blunders, we must strain every fibre of the brain, 
and every sinew of the will, if we wish to repair the mischief which 
our follj^ and our corruption hiive wrought. The universal recog- 
nition of this imperative duty is a more certain earnest of our 
success than the high spirits of our men in the field, or the indom- 
itable patriotism of our women at home, from which newspaper 
correspondents derive so much comfort. The incompetence and 
unfaithfulness of Government officials have had much to do with the 
present sad state of afilxirs, but the responsibility does not end 
there ; the guilt does not rest there alone. Everj^ man who has 
suffered himself to be tainted with the scab of speculation, has done 
something to injure the credit of Confederate securities ; every 
man who has withheld any necessary of life, has done his worst to 
ruin the country ; every one, man or woman, who has yielded to 
the solicitations of vanity or appetite, and refused to submit to any 
privation, however slight, which any expenditure, however great, 
could prevent, has contributed to the general demoralization. It 
may be said that, with the present plethora of paper money, such 
virtue as we demand is not to be expected of any people made up 
of merely human beings. But some such virtue is necessary for 
any people whose duty it has become to wage such a contest as 
ours. And if the virtue is not spontaneous, it must be engrafted 
by the painful process through which we are now passing. We 
cannot go through this fiery furnace without the smell of fire on 
our garments. We can no more avoid the loss of property than we 
can the shedding of blood. There is no family in the Confederacy 



157 

that has not to mourn the fall of some member or some connection, 
and there is no family in the Confederacy whicli oiujht to expect to 
escape scathless in estate. The attempt is as useless, in most cases, 
as it is ignohle in all. A few, and hut few, in compr.rison with the 
w^hole mnnber, may come out of the war richer than Avheu they 
went in ; hut even they must make uj) their minds to sacrifice a 
part, and a laro-e part, of their riches, in order to preserve the whole. 
The saying of the stoic philosopher, " You can't have something foi- 
nothing," tliough it sounds like a truism, in fact conveys a moral 
lesson of great significance. Men must pay for privileges. If they 
do not pay voluntarily, their neighbors will make them pay, and 
that heavily. 

We all have a heavy score to pay off, and we know it. This 
may depress us, but our enemies need not be jubilant over our de- 
pression ; for Avc are determined to meet our liabilities. Whatever 
number of men, or whatever amount of money shall be really want- 
ing, will be forthcoming. Whatever economy the straitening of 
our resources may require, we shall learn to exercise. We could 
only wish that Congress Avas not in such a feverish mood, and that 
the Government would do something towards the establishment of 
a statistical bureau, or some other agency, by which we could 
approximately ascertain what we have to contribute, and to what 
extent we must husband our resources. Wise, cool, decided, promj^t 
action would put us in good condition for the spring campaign of 
1864, and the close of next year would furnish a more agreeable 
retrospe(rt than the annus niirahiUs of blunders which Ave now con- 
sign to the dead past. 



JAN U All Y 1,1864. 

Standing upon that narrow isthmus of time which connects the 
two segments of the calendar, the old and the new year, it is natural 
that we should pause to reflect ; should cast a keen retrospective 
glance iqjon the troubled tide over Avhich we have passed, and peer 
intently into the Cimmerian darkness which envelops our future 
path. In the most tranquil periods of existence, these artificial di- 
visions, the " relay houses," where the "Fates change horses," are 
suggestive of solemn thoughts ; regret for the past and fitful resolu- 
tions for the future. The present epoch of troubled and anxious 
poi-tents, when all the usual cares and phms of life are dwarfed into 
insignificance before the one all-important concern of maintaining 
national life, naturally stirs the deepest recesses of the heart, and 
awakens the greatest solicitude for our future course and prospects. 

Wlmt does the impenetrable face of 1864 conceal of good or of 
evil for us ? Will the year, like its immediate predecessors, be dis- 
tinguished by glorious and hardly won victories of the Confederate 
arras, checkered occasionally by unavoidable mishap, and staineil at 
times by unaccountable imbecility or imprudencies, yet presenting, 
in final result, military glory, tarnished by loss of extensive terri- 
tories and accumulation of embarrassment? 



158 

A momentous question, and tlie answer to it is not, by any 
means, dependent exclusively upon the nod of Jove. Once before, 
in the progress of the war, did gloomy clouds contract the horizon. 
The eventful spring of 1862 maybe considered as the first great- 
crisis and turning point of the struggle. A parallel state of things 
exists at present. 

The cool and statesmanlike glance which takes in at once the 
M'hole field, wliich appreciates the danger without exaggerated alarm, 
which preserves its calm in the midst of danger, and applies methodi- 
cally the proper remedies, is what we now need. Excitement and 
rashness are always detrimental in affairs which cannot be transacted 
without a considerable lapse of time. Our armies must be main- 
tained on a proper footing, and they and the population in general 
must be fed. The necessary productions of mechanical skill must 
be furnished, both for the well-being of the army and the daily busi- 
ness of the country. Above all, and before all, the political liberties 
and institutions of this country must be preserved intact. These 
are the things that we fight for. Once let the nation grasp the idea 
that these things are lost, and it will refuse to go on with this war. 
Let all who are concerned be warned of this in time. 

What we want is that sane legislation in Congress, and that 
patriotic spirit among the people, which ^\\\\ give the requisite mili- 
tary strength and the supporting influence which backs military 
power by the energy of 'an industrious and provident people. It is 
idle to indulge in the crude speculations and projects which captivate 
hasty and superficial thinkers only; of converting a whole nation 
into a camp; of collecting a single army from the strength of the 
nation, and staking all upon the issue of one campaign. As well re- 
sort to the chivalric method of the middle ages, and propose to decide 
a war by a single combat or a pitched battle in a c/tconp clos. We 
require a policy which embraces the whole field, which provides for 
all our necessities, and faces all our dangers ; not the contracted 
view which takes in fragmentary ideas, and thinks that when it has 
secured a point of the game, it has done everything. A temperate 
boldness and sagacious deliberation will bring into play all that is 
necessary to be done by a people who still really abound in resources, 
and ujion whom the impression that has been made by the enemy's 
arms, however pregnant with distress to portions of the country, is 
absurdly disproportioned to its conquest. Let biit a wisdom com- 
mensurate at all with its valor distinguish the Confeileracy, and the 
new year will make evident the folly of the design which the enemy 
propose, and which is only beneficial or necessary to the execrable 
junto which now rules at Washington. 



JANUAIi Y 2, 18 64 



Virginia has a new Governor. Tuesday cA^ening last John 
Letcher made his adieu to the gubernatorial mansion in Richmond 
with a bowl of " apple-brandy toddy," and a festive speech. There 



159 

was soinethinjx about the speech more remarkable tliaii the fi ee toddy 
and the nuitual admiration society which celebrated tlie occasion. 
After nearly three years since the commencement of the war, Mr, 
Letcher comes before the public with an after-dinner explanation of 
his course on the secession question, and proves, with the loi^ic of 
liquor, that he was the original evangelist of secession in Virginia. 
He says that he opposed the Convention that took the State out of 
the Union because he preferred Lincoln to force it out ; and then 
there would have been no division of parties, and all would have 
unanimously resolved to rescue their liberties. 

After three years of taciturn virtue, mistaken calumny and un- 
deserved censure, the out-going Governor finds this occasion for the 
trium)ihant vindication of himself. But, unfortunately, the argu- 
ment is not original. It is precisely the same with which Hicks de- 
bauched Maryland, and which, at the beginning of hostilities, was 
in the mouth of every wretch who designed, under an affected in- 
dignation and postponed threats, to secure the ruiu and subjugation 
of the South, Wait to be kicked out of the Union, they said, and 
the affront will be mortal, and, therefore, sure of resentment. But 
that is every coward's argument and artifice — waiting for the para- 
mount insult, without taking notice of inferior assaults ; and it inva- 
riably ends in his taking the slap in the face quite as submissively 
as the preliminary affronts. 

With the bluster of what he would have done, and what he did 
not do, Letcher makes his exit and retires with the God-speed of 
every individual who wishes the country well. The occasion is one 
of too much thankfulness to be disturbed by criticisms of the past. 
Let him go to his " mountain home " quietly, with no more toddies, 
speeches or shows, and especially without tarrying for that sword 
which the wise men of the city have voted for his services on Joseph 
Mayo. We have only to pray that Virginia may never look upon 
his like again. 

The inaugural address of his distinguished successor, the General 
and Governor William Smith, occupies our columns to-day. While 
it is the sincere wish of all that his administration of the old laws 
of Virginia may be wise, just and patriotic, we are compelled to 
enter this early protest against many of the theories and projects 
for legislation which it contains. But intellectual speculations and 
daily acts are different things. We hope that some of the Governor's 
views, when developed and explained, will be found less wild than 
they look ; and, in any event, we feel confident that he will admin- 
ister the business of the State according to its ancient constitutions, 
established laws, and known usages. These are good ; the people 
are good ; and the only means of bringing forth the sti'ength of 
Virginia is by an adherence, both in letter and spirit, to her old cus- 
toms and policy. 



160 

JANUARY 13, 18 64. 

Unity of will is absolutely essential to the successful command 
of an army. By an easy, though delusive, process of ratiocination 
the same principle is extended to the operations of government and 
the uncontrolled will of a single individual supposed to be the 
fittest instrument for administering the business of a State. Many, 
who demur to the unlimited acknowledgment of the principle, give 
it their adherence in so i-AV as it relates to a state of war. Whatever 
may be the theoretical beauties, or the happy operation of constitu- 
tional checks and balances, or of fi'ee discussion in peaceful periods, 
they deem them out of place in the trying times of a great and 
pitiless war. The fashion of late years, more especially among 
military men, has been to dilate upon this supposed inferiority of 
free governments in the vigorous conduct of hostilities ; and many 
zealous defenders of liberty have conceded the point, only claiming 
for their cherished system a prej^onderance of benefits, when the 
whole field of national life is taken into view. 

It is a superficial analogy which confounds the arbitrary will 
necessary to the direction of military operations in the field with the 
enlightened supervision requisite for evolving the resources of a nation 
with the greatest practical efliciency and the least detriment to the 
public welfare. In the one case, plans are formed which demand 
secrecy and energy, but which are based solely upon considerations 
of a military nature, requiring, no doubt, genius and ability, but 
which are infinitely less complex in their character, and demand very 
much less consideration of extraneous agencies and disturbing 
causes, than the other. Nor is it true, as historical sciolists are so 
fond of asserting, that despotic governments are alone capable of 
the vigorous conduct of war. Leaving out of view the facility with 
which the absolute rulers of Asia have always succumbed to the free 
genius of Europe, it Avill be found that an enlightened system of rep- 
resentative government, however obatructed by tiie want of celerity 
incident to free debate, and the greater publicity which attends its 
measures, has, in general, proved superior to the more concentrated 
but less vigorous eftorts of absolutism. Above all, is this the case when 
the whole life and energy of a peojile have been signalized by the 
prevalence of free principles. To change its whole course of action in 
such a case, under the pressure of impending danger, is like a change 
of front and order of battle. in presence of the enemy. 

It can hardly be deemed necessary, in the course of a war waged 
for the establishment of sound constitutional principles, to inflict so 
severe a blow upon them as to deliberately thi'ow them aside in the 
heat of conflicts as cumbrous impediments. Such a proceeding would 
bring deserved discredit upon them, not only throughout the world, 
but among ourselves. The inference would be just and reasonable 
that whatever success they may have met in the past was due to 
favoring circumstances, and that the more difficult state of things 
which will exist in future on this continent demands a reformation 
of antiquated ideas. 



161 

The fortunate results which so often attended the choice of :i 
dictator at Rome are much prized by the advocates of unlimited 
authority, Rome, with her aristocratic Senate, her divisions 
amonjjf the orders of the State, and her irregvilar nnd crude method of 
legislation in her early days, can hardly be cited as a complete 
exeni])lar for a people wliose traditions and habits have so thor- 
oughly educated them m the maintenance and exercise of well-regu- 
lated representative government. Yet, if we could find a Camillus 
or a Cincinnatus, it might not be improper to invest him with the 
authority which they ])ossessed. If Ave cannot, let not our legislators 
and statesmen abolish those guaranties of liberty which are suffi- 
ciently imperilled by the mere existence of war; let them not intro- 
duce an element into the State which will certainly replace civil 
by military leaders ; and let not the chosen guardians of liberty 
commit a deliberate act of jiohtical suicide. 



JANUARY 20, 1864. 

Martial virtue is quite distinct from military efficiency. The 
Romans were essentially the military people of the ancient world, 
though, in bravery upon the field of battle, it was impossible to 
excel the warriors of Germany and Gaul. Yet, in the thorough and 
systematic organization which pervaded the legions of Rome was 
found a principle which overcame all the effi>rts of desultory bravery, 
and finally made her mistress of the world. The feudal lords of 
of mediasval Europe displayed conspicuous prowess on every field, 
yet were they subject to such complete routs as are unknown to 
modem discipline, and their mode of fighting became obsolete with 
the introduction of improved infantry tactics. 

France is undoubtedly the first military power of the present day. 
Yet, though at Albuera, at Badajos, and at Waterloo, the steadiness 
of the British infantry maintained the ground, in the Crimea it was 
clearly shown how insufficient for a great and continued struggle is 
the valor which is only prepared for the brunt of a single battle. 
Complete order, all-pervading system, looking to the comfort of the 
soldier, and consequently insuring his efficiency in actual combat, 
were the great military requisites, which Avere conspicuously dis- 
played in every department of the French army, and Avliich can never 
fail to secure its excellence in protracted campaigning. 

^ It is impossible to deny the Southern soldier that bravery which \ 
he has proved on many well-fought fields, but it is equally certain 
that the tliorough organization of armies is not the praise properly 
attributable to the Confederacy. Much, no doubt, is to be attributed 
to the manifold difficulties with which we have had to contend, the 
want of so many indispensable requisites which go to make up the 
complex machine of an army. Much, however, must be ascribed to 
official incompetency or negligence. Tlie character of the soldier 
himself, too, renders it difficult to secure that complete efficiency 
which marks the perfection of a disciplined army. The very reck- 



162 

less brnveiy which gives him his victorious elan is difficult to recon- 
cile with tlie strict discipline, the sleepless vigilance, which are in- 
dispensable to success in war. Free-handed and improvident, the 
Southern volunteer is disposed to be thoughtless of the future, and 
to purchase present convenience at the price of future hunger and 
discomfoit. Experience and long campaigning have a tendency to 
correct these faults, but it is more in the watchful supervision of 
officers that we should look for amelioration. 

The French soldier, careless and tlioughtless by nature, seems to 
assume a ne^v character with his uniform. He becomes alert and 
cautious. He is provident and contriving in alleviating the hard- 
ships of camp, and increasing his stock of comfort. To his superi- 
ority in this respect, as well as to the excellence of the French com- 
missariat, many of the advantages enjoyed by the French over the 
English in the Crimea are attributable. His shrewd care of the 
cuisine, his dexterity in foraging, and the skill with which he dressed 
his food and prepared his soup, contrasted advantageously with tlie 
improvidence of the British, and secured him great advantnges in 
the exposure of the bivouac, the fatigue of the march, and the ordeal 
of the battle. 

Three yeai-s of war should have rendered us a thoroughly military 
people. That they have not produced this eftect is evident. Our 
troops out-iight the Yankees, as they have done from the beginning ; 
yet the latter have made greater strides towards the constitution of 
a thoroughly organized army. The material they have had to work 
with, naturally less endowed with military aptitude, is yet more pliant 
to the moulding operation of discipline, and thus, with them, art 
has to some extent supplied the deficiencies of nature. 

It is important that a similar improvement should be made in 
the military efficiency of the Confederacy, in view both of the pos- 
sibility of the indefinite jjrolongation of the present war, and the 
armed attitude of watchfulness which will have to be maintained in 
consequence of the future changed condition of affairs on this conti- 
nent. Enthusiasm and the ardor of high-spirited courage must be 
supported and invigorated by the bracing hand of a discipline and 
a system which will give concentration of energy w*ithout impairing 
individual enterprise and daring. 

Without resorting to the Yankee plan of immolating every offi- 
cer who is unfortunate, we may, at least infer, from the improve- 
ment which seems to have attended their generalship, that a stricter 
accountability and more exacting supervision of our own officers 
would not fail to pi'oduce a decided amelioration in the Confederate 
army, a military engine, the admirable parts of which only require 
to be properly combined and harmonized in order to produce unpar- 
alleled results. 



JANUAR r 2 1, 1 8 64. 



The vain and uni'eflecting North are deceiving themselves with 
the delusion that the South is already conquered. From the begin 



163 



iiing they have regaixled the task as constantl)^ on the eve of accom- 
plishment ; they now tliink the woi-k already done. There are a 
few phiin considerations Avhich ought to teacli them that tliey are 
laboring nnder an error. The Soutli not only is not conquered ; but, 
if slie chooses^ she never can be. 

In a population of five millions, there is one in five capable of 
making resistance ; capable of exerting effective eflbrt, in some form, 
in op]iosing an aggressive power. If true to herself, the South is 
ca}»able of successfully resisting a million of men. Can a people 
thus ]>ossessing an army of at least four hundred thousand brave 
men be conquered by any foreign })Ower unless they choose to be? 

The North boasts twenty millions of people. One in twenty of 
this number is more than it has yet succeeded in placing upon its 
muster rolls. 

The plain deduction from this statement of the ease is, that if 
the South has suffered reverses in the contest to the extent of bring- 
ing her cause into any sort of peril, it has been either from want of 
valor in the People or of capacity in the Government. It is for the 
public to determine where the blame lies; our own opinion is well 
known. The whole male population, between the ages of eighteen 
and forty-five, with a few necessary exceptions, have been placed at the 
disposal of Government ; and our impressment laws have exposed to 
it the whole available substance of the country, Avhich they have 
seized with a strong and used with a lavish hand. If our cause has 
been brought into peril, it need not remain so for one moment, if those 
who are charged with responsibility but perform their duty with 
wisdom, with honesty, and Avith ability. 



JANUARY 21, 1864. 



" RECo:^rsTRiTCTio:N^ " is an absorbing topic with the enemy at pres- 
ent. The fighting being so nearly concluded, Lee's army exter- 
minated, Johnston's starved to death, Beauregard's buried under 
the ruins of Sumter, it becomes a serious question what is to be 
done with the rebels. A variety of opinions exist upon the subject. 
Lincoln's decimal system is, of course, favored by ofticial infiuence, 
but there are others to which their partisans are not less devoted. 
There is the territorial system, nnder which the Yankees are to 
control absolutely the destinies of a population which has forfeited 
all the rights appertaining to the States by their wicked rebellion. 
There is the free-farm system, by which everybody is to be endowed 
Avith rich lands, fruitful in cotton, rice, or tobacco, and new blood 
infused into the languid South ; and there is also a feeble remnant of 
antediluvian politicians, who call themselves democrats, and are 
much laughed at for their innocent pertinacity in demanding the 
restoration of the States to all their rights, and the maintenance of 
that obsolete instrument called " the Constitution." 

One sage philosopher, discoursing upon the subject, with all the 



164 

gravity and wisdom of Minerva's bird, wisely comes to the conclu- 
sion tliat the manner in which the Southern people will be treated 
depends very much upon themselves. They may, says he, remain 
sullen and indifferent, stupidly obstinate and insensible to the bless- 
inofs of the restored Union, whicli comes in such a charminof oruise 
— heralded by the roar of artillery and the groans of the wounded 
and dying. They may be unartistically and unpoetically callous 
to tlie beauties of the " old flag." In that case, evidently, they 
will have to be treated with severity. On the other hand, he thinks 
there may be a violent revulsion of sentiment. Conquered and 
crushed, they will, in an instant, turn their rage upon those who 
have deceived them. Unwilling to take any fault to themselves for 
their misfortune, they will denounce those whom they have hereto- 
fore trusted as the authors of their calamities. They will pass, then, 
at once from antipathy to the Yankees into an excessive love for 
them. A paroxysm of loyalty and devotion to the Union will seize 
them. Such sudden changes of popular feeling are recorded in his- 
tory. The restoration of Charles II. is a case in point. The exiled 
monarcli was received with every demonstration of rejoicing, and the 
whole nation testified its loyalty by the most extravagant exhibi- 
tions. Why may not this be the case at the South ? Why should 
.Lincoln not be received with salvos of artillery at Richmond ? Why 
should Butler not be welcomed at New Orleans with joyous strains of 
music, and garlanded with flowers by the admiring fair, whose fovor 
he has won by the courteous consideration he has always displayed 
for them ? In the full tide of returning loyalty, such things may 
well be. 

There is, however, one little defect in this sage philosopher's 
historical parallel. The outburst of loyalty which welcomed Charles 
back to the throne of his ancestors was the spontaneous feeling of a 
people who were all desirous of his return. Forcibly had he been 
expelled, and peacefully was he recalled. The case is precisely op- 
posite with the restoration of the Union. It conies supported by 
bayonets and reeking with blood. Such a restoration is not likely 
to be hailed with any boisterous manifestation of delight. 

The restoration of the royal line in England, too, was an uprising 
of the people against the dreary fanaticism and hypocrisy under 
whicli they had groaned for years. They had tried the Puritans 
of the genuine Pilgrim Father stamp, and were disgusted. We, at 
the South, have had experience enough of their antitypes, the mod- 
ern Yankees, We have already had our rejoicing at being quit of 
them, and are no more likely to welcome them back than the English 
were disposed to reinstate the Rump Parliament and its reign of 
pestilent cant. 



JANUAR Y 22, 1864. 

Certain of our contemporaries seem never to weary of ringing 
the changes on the necessity of harmony, .iEsop's bundle ot sticks 



JG5 

is lucfged in eveiy now and then to break tlie stiff neck and the un- 
bending back of tiie " opposition." The bad Latin motto of Austi-ia, 
vin'b'is unitls, is daily expounded for the benefit of those who do 
not appreciate the measures of the best of all possible administra- 
tions. What proportion of these homilies is due to patriotic motives, 
what to truckling subserviency, we will not stop to examine. But 
as there is danger lest some well-meaning people may be dinned into 
the belief that the time has come for the suspension of all individual 
judgment, and as we have a sincere regard for all well-meaning 
people, it may be worth our while to offer a brief vindication of the 
course which so many representatives of the press have found it their 
duty to pursue. 

We need no CEdipus to tell us that criticism is easier than per- 
formance. That is the burden of countless proverbs and parables 
without number. Still criticism has its uses, and fault-fiudino- is, 
after all, often the cause of fault-mending. Sometimes the result is 
direct ; the exposure of the error leads to its reparation. More fre- 
quently yet, the lecture is applied in a different way ; and in spite of 
an obstinate adherence to a mistaken policy, new plans are shaped 
under the influence — more or less consciously felt — of a vigilant cen- 
sorship. The administration has been slow to heed the advice of 
those who stand without its magic circle ; but it has been forced to 
yield point after point, and these concessions, though tardy and un- 
gracious, show that it is not entirely beyond the reach of such coo-ent 
arguments as the conseritient voice of the country. For months and 
months the administration was let alone, and with what result we 
all know. Henceforth it can expect no renewal of the hazardous 
experiment, and must content itself with being but one of the pow- 
ers of the State. Harmony, indeed ! If the harmony of our first 
love had continued unbroken, it would have been the only thing 
unbroken in the Confederacy. Surffiaminandum est. The brake 
must be put on although the wheels may creak under the cruel 
treatment. 

Nothing is to be feared from the ifidependent utterances of the 
press. There is no " opposition" in the invidious sense of the word. 
There is no dispute about tlie end, which is the same in every true 
patriot ; that there should be much debate about the means is not 
only natural and legitimate, but eminently useful. Nobody inveighs 
against the war as unnecessary ; against our separation from "the 
Yankees as a heart-rending divorce of brother from brother. No 
respectable journal hints at reconstruction. Blunders in the con- 
duct of affairs are freely criticised, and the fulfilment of repeated 
prophecies is often employed to give a keener edge to the criticism ; 
but we have seen no trace of the malignant exultation which prefers 
to be in the right, like Cassandra, rather than in the wrong, like 
Jonah. The opposition, as called, may be hard to please, but the 
administration is harder to please. The Government assumes a bold 
position — somewhat late in the day, it is true — in the matter of our 
foreign relations, Ave reaffirm our approval of that position; we 
strengthen it by illustration and argument ; we maintain the wisdom 



166 

of tlie policy. Our approval, our arguments, our advocacy ai-e re- 
garded as so many covert sneers. It is well for the peace of mind 
of all journalists who undertake to re\ie\v, impartially, the state of 
public afiairs, that the pleasure of the administration is a matter of 
no importance whatever. 

But, Ave are told, the Yankees derive great encouragement from 
our wrangling, and expect the dissolution of our league to follow 
close in the wake of our dissensions. If these dissensions had any 
reference to submission ; if we were debating the expediency of 
accepting Lincoln's amnesty, the Yankees would do well to be jubi- 
lant ; but as our disputes relate simply to the best method of repel- 
ling the invader, as we are all agreed on the policy of dispatching 
Cerberus, and not ap[)casing him, we can see no reason why our 
enemies should be exultant. Far better reasons would they have 
for rejoicing, if our Congress should pass any of the desperate 
measures Avhich that body has suffered itself to entertain ; and 
whether the Yankees are exultant or not, we must learn, once for 
all, to walk in the good old paths of hereditary constitutional right, 
without regarding the frames and feelings of tliat mighty emotioned, 
people. The true danger is lest our own people should be alienated 
from the cause by the misconduct of those who are at the head of 
aifairs, and, by pointing out errors and urging reform, an independ- 
ent press can do more to promote a higher harmony, than by a mute 
resignation to accomplished facts, or loud appeals for such a unity 
as can be brought about only by an abnegation of thought, or a 
renunciation of liberty. 



JANUAR F 2G, 18 64. 

Gaming, if not entirel}^ su])pressed by the recent law framed for 
that purpose, has, at least, had its wings clipped. It no longer holds 
high carnival in spacious halls and tempts with luxurious banquets, 
but is confined in barricaded recesses, and contracts its bill of fare 
to dimensions more appropriate to the present times in which " Star- 
vation Parties" abound. With this diminution of its splendor, 
there is a corresponding decline in the number of those who frequent 
the "hells." 

Law can do much to correct the vice of gaming, but not all. 
The suppression of the gaming-houses in France greatly diminished 
the vice. It fled to the clubs, where, of course, the mass of the 
population are unable to indulge in it. Apart from these privileged 
localities, it is principally in the apartments of faded " lorettes " 
that indiscreet young men are fleeced in Paris. 

In that i)art of America lately called the United States, the vice 
was fostered by some peculiarities of life, as well as by the natural 
propensity to try one's luck at games of chance. It is intimately 
connected Avith the same si)irit Avhich has caused the erection of 
mammoth hotels, and collects a gregarious and omnivorous mass at 
enormous table cV hates. In other countries, people prefer to eat in 



167 

select parties; and it is considered more pleasant to he one of five 
than one of five hundred. The Yankee, however, whose indefati- 
gahle and aggressive spirit has controlk-d these affairs on lliis side 
of the water, is fond of the vast and tawdry magnificent. Hence 
his hotels, his steamhoats, and hence, too, his faro-banks. People 
flock to tliese establishments under the combined influence of the 
taste for living in public, and the mania for gambling. The one 
assists and develops tlie other. 

Now this love of crowds is a Yankee propensity, which they 
have succeeded in engrafting upon tlie South. We should rid our- 
selves of it, along with other " notions " of theirs. Our hotels, 
instead of being immense caravansaries, where a man, unless in the 
good graces of the clerk, is forced to clamber up innumerable steps, 
like a M'olf seeking his lair, should be framed more upon the Eui-o- 
pean model. Instead of the palatial fronts, the vast corridors, and 
the endless tables, the liotel should aim at giving tlie traveller the 
repose and quietude of home. Comfort should be desired rather 
than show. The table iVhote should be a place Avhere people come 
to satisfy their hunger with well-cooked food in an unpretentious 
way ; not an immense exhibition, where ladies are to appear, at four 
in the afternoon, in '■'■ deeollete'''' dresses, and resplendent with dia- 
monds and lace. 

Such establishments would really contribute more to the comfort 
of respectable travellers, than the vast style instituted by the Yan- 
kees. They would be also of a much more elevated tone, and would 
not be liable to the objections and disorders which make our present 
system so ill-adapted for the residence of families. The tastes and 
habits of Southern ladies and gentlemen would naturally lead them 
to seek for greater privacy than that aftbrded by the hotels estab- 
lished upon the model of the noisy and bustling Yankee. This 
change wdll be an addition, too, to that stock of radical differences 
which already separate us from that people, and in the cultivation 
of which national character will be best developed. 

An entire change in the hotel system would greatly contribute 
to the diminution of the vice of gambling. Accustomed to a quieter 
mode of life, men would not rush to the gaming-house, under the 
impulse of a desire for gregarious feeding. The fashion of such 
things would change ; and, Avhen deprived of the allurements of the 
_^ table, and of that secret sympathetic feeling which takes possession 
of crowds, and spurs them on to greater excesses than any individ- 
ual of them Avould commit, men will play solely from the naked 
love of gain, and the desire of giving an active motion to the slug- 
gish sensibilities. 

Then life Avill pass in a mode more congenial to the character 
and structure of Southern people. We shall have the tranquil prog- 
ress of the family coach, instead of the express-train, high-pressure 
rate of the Yankees, which has intensified and marie manifest the 
want of harmony between the two peoples. Then the Southern 
gentleman, when he travels, will surround himself with an air of 
solid substantiality, instead of a mass of rococo frijipery. Then, if 



168 

he has not altogether conquered the old Adam, and thinks there is 
no great harm in investing a small sum upon the investigation of a 
problem of chances, he will intrust it to the keeping of a favorite 
thoroughbred, not rush madly into the vortex of desperate play, 
with the apparent object of dissipating his means in the shortest 
possible time. 



FEBRUARY 15, 18 64. 

In a column of extracts from exchanged papers, containing the 
public news, the following paragraph from the Columbus (Ga.) 
Sun, was printed in the last edition of the Examiner : — 

" A Fat Contract. — In a valley back of the little town of 
Hamburg, South Carolina, opposite Augusta, Georgia, an immense 
distillery is going up, the proprietor of which is said to have a 
Government contract for five hundred thousand gallons of whiskey. 
He has the damaged corn and some molasses ready, also pens for 
fattening hogs on the swill. What is odd, the owner of this dis- 
tillery is Collector of the Port of Xew Orleans, and draws salary as 
such. At least his name was sent in as successor of his father, who 
was the father-in-law of Jeiferson Davis, and no one has ever heard 
of its rejection." — liichmond Gorresjyondent Columbus (Ga.) /Smi. 

The present writer was made aware of the foregoing by the two 
notes which he had the surprise and delight to receive from the 
President's own secretary, under the official envelope of the Execu- 
tive Department. One of them is addressed : — 

Richmond, Va., February 13, 1864. 
To THE Editor of the Richmond Examiner: — 

Sir — In the ^'xamwier of this date is published an article headed "A Fat Con- 
tract" arid purporting to be an extract from the Richmond correspondence of the 
Columbus (Ga.) Swn, each sentence of which contains one distinct falsehood. 

Mr. William F. Howell, the gentleman evidently referred to, is not "Collector 
of the Port of New Orleans," nor has ho " drawn salary as such," nor has " his name 
been sent in" as such. He is not "the owner of an immense distillery," nor has he 
"a Government contract for 500,000 gallons of whiskey." 

The facts are, that Mr. Howell is a Navy Agent, and that under orders from 
the Navy Department, he has erected near Augusta, Georgia, a distillery for the 
manufacture of whiskey, to be used by the Medical Purveyor and as rations. Mr. 
Howell "has no contract," and acts in the matter simply as a Government officer 
under orders. 

By publishing this you will oblige your obedient servant. 

Burton N. Haeeison. 

The publication of the foregoing is ordered by the President's 
secretary in tlie following judicious, polite, and amiable language: — 

[Private.] Richmond, February 13, 1864. 

Mr. Daniel : 

Sir — Enclosed with this you will find a communication which you will oblige 
me by publishing in the Ea-aminer of the 15lh. 

It is brief, and is a statement of facts relative to a slanderous article which 
some one in your office has inserted in the Examiner of this date as an e.xtiact from 
the columns of the Columbus (Ga.) Sim. Its publication by you is due Mr. Howell's 



169 

friends as an act of justice for a wrong which has been done him, I trust, without 
your knowledge or consent. 

Some time since a statement appeared in the Examiner relative to the burning 
of the President's cotton. Colonel Jolin T. Wood at once addressed to the paper a 
communication correcting the errors it contained, and requested publication for it. 
So far as I am informed, the correction never appeared in the Examiner. Allow 
me to aay tiiat I am unwilling to believe that you, personally, had any thing to do 
with withholding it from publication, and that I am incliued to hope that this com- 
munication of mine will not share its fate. Otherwise, I shall be forced to the 
conviction that the re'^pov.sible Editor of a public journal himself indulges the petty 
personal malignity v^hich inspires the articles which assail the private character and 
personal concerns of the President and the members of his family. 

Your obedient servant. 

Burton N. Harrison. 

As Mr. Harrison has no title to make ns the confidant of his 
correspondence, nor the President's secretary to write us private 
letters on subjects in any manner concerning public business, we do 
not feel at liberty to suppress either of these interesting and 
necessary documents. We trust that the President and his secre- 
tary will be pleased at the present prompt compliance witht heir 
wishes. Perhaps they would like to hear why Ave did not publish 
the commianication formerly sent us by Colonel Wood. In an article 
on the danger that the cotton crop should fall into the enemy's 
hands, it was remarked that very few planters burnt their cotton — 
even the President did not burn his own. This was all. Where- 
upon a long and confused missive was sent to us from the Executive 
Department, over the signature of J. Taylor Wood, enclosing a 
well-known telegram by the President about his cotton, an editorial 
of a Mississippi journal on the same subject, and other morsels of 
hard language, written on dilFerent pieces of paper, the whole form- 
ing an abusive but unsatisfactory contradiction to a charge that the 
President had preserved his cotton, when that of his neighbors was 
burnt by military aiithority. Knowing nothing of that matter, and 
not having referred to it, we thought proper to " withhold" Colonel 
Wood's lengthy communication. It did not "connect the errors" 
of the Examiner ; this paper contained no errors or error on the 
subject. The remark that even the President had not taken the 
trouble to destroy his own cotton rested on the President's own 
published telegram, that he did not know Avhat had been done with 
it. There, it appeared that he had neither burned nor ordered 
others to burn it. The remark was exact; the inference legitimate, 
that if the President himself neglected to destroy his cotton, few 
others Avould burn theirs. The papers sent by Colonel Wood had 
no application, raised a new issue, might possibly mislead, and his 
communication was rejected for that reason. There was another 
reason ; we did not think such exhibitions of temper and manners 
by the President could be pleasing or beneficial to the country ; 
these disciissions and certificates are unseemly ; nor did it look 
w/ell that he should manifest such uncommon uneasiness about that 
other story, of which we had said nothing at all. Hearing such 
angry denials of what was not said, people might begin to think that 
12 



170 

there really was sometliing in it. Tliis, a patriotic, decoroi^s, and 
public motive was what chiefly consigned Colonel Wood's docu- 
ments to the waste basket. They appeared better fitted ^o damage 
than to do good. But the President's secretary explains our con- 
duct by " personal malignity." After a misinterpretation so un- 
gracious, we have no longer the privilege of consulting our own 
judgment, or indulging the feeling of compassion, which would 
prompt us to return his letters to their writer's address. Therefore 
we publish all the President's secretary has written in the Presi- 
dent's office about the President's relative or connection, his place 
and his present occiipation in the Confederate Government ; and if 
he is wise enough to write us again, or if any of the President's aids, 
or the President himself, will undertake the task of giving more in- 
formation on these topics, we will print every letter they will 
vouchsafe to send, without the delay of one day. Since they want 
publicity they shall have enough of it, or at least all that we can 
give. 

There are many interesting points which might be thus eluci- 
dated, and no one has such opportunities for procuring the infor- 
mation as the President's secretary, who sits in his office and writes 
under his eye. We did not know that the Confederacy paid him 
for this kind of work, but since- he has undertaken it, we are glad to 
see him usefully employed. He may explain how, and by whose 
authority he has connected himself with the matter ; why he thinks 
a paragraph from a Georgia paper relative to a public functionary 
and public business can be due only to the inspiration and " person- 
al malignity " of an editor in Richmond, or can be the just ground 
of " private letters " from the President's secretary ; he may tell us 
what may be the exact personal relationship between the navy 
agent at the port of New Orleans and the President ; and how the 
Confederate naval agency for the port of New Orleans and a 
Government whiskey distillery in Georgia, can be strictly considered 
" personal concerns of the President and the members of his family." 
Could he say what other offices are tabooed against public animad- 
version for the same cause ? A wide field opens to the President's 
secretary, but Ave will siiggest only one truit which he might pluck 
there for the public. If he will only take the trouble to inform 
us Avhich one of the President's family, and of the late General 
Taylor's, is not holding any office anywhere, we shall not only 
print it with pleasure, but the public will receive his information 
with a gratification heightened by surprise. 

Descending from general to particular observations, it is clear 
that the President's secretary convicts the correspondent of the 
Georgia Sun of several errors. 

It appears from the documents now public, that Mr. Howell is 
not " Collector for the Port of New Orleans," nor has he drawn 
salary as such, nor has his " name been sent in as such," nor has he 
" a contract for five hundred thousand gallons of whiskey." ^ 

On the other hand, Mr. Howell is " navy agent " for the port 
of New Orleans, he has " drawn salary as such," his " name was 



171 

sent in as sucli," and he has erected an extensive distillerj'-, not near 
Hamburg, in South Carolina, but near Augusta, in Georgia, on Gov- 
ernment account, over which the navy agent for the port of New 
Orleans' will preside, and make whiskey, five hundred thousand 
gallons, more or less. 

The ])ublic will appreciate the differences. One point only of 
the slanderous Stm- is not pronounced a distinct falsehood, and we 
may, therefore, be permitted to believe that Mr. Howell is not " the 
father-in-law of Jefferson Davis," but only his brother-in-law. 
Another Mr. Howell was navy agent at New Orleans Ijefore se- 
cession ; was continued in office by the Confederate Government ; 
died navy agent some time after the capture of New Orleans and 
the expulsion of the Confederates ; and it Avas the name of his son 
that was then sent in for the place of navy agent at New Orleans, 
the same, we presume, who now, in the course of his naval dut)^, is 
called to the distilling of whiskej^, five hundred thousand gallons, 
more or less, for the Confederate Government. 



FEBRUARY IG, 186 4. 

" "What becomes of the pins " ? is an interrogatory of trifling in- 
terest compared with " What shall be done with our Treasmy 
notes "^? We mean, of course, the material fabric, the paper that 
has been wasted in the preparation of the promises to pay, the re- 
siduary rags which will soon begin, in a dirty snow, to come down 
upon and overwhelm INftserrimus Memminger. At this moment they 
are scattered over ever so many hundreds of thousands of square 
miles, the representatives of a most uncertain value ; six months 
hence they will be massed together in this city, a vast bulk of utter- 
ly worthless matter ; we say worthless, unless, indeed, there shall 
occur to the fertile mind of the political economist some happy 
method of utilization. We have heard of eccentric people who 
papered the walls of their rooms with cancelled postage-stamps, 
and the cancelled Treasuiy notes might possibly be useful in this 
kind of upholstery, but for the fear that madness would supervene 
upon the wretched occupants of apartments so ornamented, and 
thus the country be filled with Bedlamites. To see the faces which 
adorn these bills looking down on one forever, with that unchang- 
ing expression of ineffable melancholy which the engraver has given 
to all of them (for on the best specimens of the Confederate 
currency- Davis is doleful, and Stephens saturnine, Hunter is heavy, 
and Clay clouded with care, INIemminger is mournful, and even 
Benjamin the buoyant is bien triste), and to have constantly in sight 
the evidences of the country's travail and im2)ecuniosity,were enough 
to drive even a well-regulated mind to, lunacy. To make a burnt 
sacrifice of them after cancellation would, perhaps, be thought the 
proper thing, if men enough could be spared from the army to 
superintend the combustion. But this work would have to be done 



172 

with great care, and would require many months to complete it. To 
set fire to the immense mass at once would imperil the safety of 
the city. Nor does such flimsy fuel answer well for the furnace and 
the forge, however convenient it might prove for heating the baths 
of a modern Omar. We have to suggest a disjjosition of these 
notes which commends itself to the attention of both the Confeder- 
ate and State Governments ; a twofold dis^josition, looking to orna- 
ment and defence, which will give a stimulus at once to manufac- 
tures and the fine arts in the Confederacy. 

The impenetrable nature of paper, when closely packed together 
in laj^ers or leaves, is well known. It is not easy to send a pistol- 
ball through a book of five hundred pages. A testament in the 
breast-pocket of a pious soldier has often saved a life xipon the 
battle-field. Still less easy is it to pierce a succession of laminar 
pasteboards. The reader catches at our pi'oposition now before it 
is announced. We are hopelessly anticipated. Let two-thirds of 
the waste-paper of the Confederate circulation be converted into 
pasteboard, and this substance substituted for iron in the sheathing 
of our ships-of-war. The superior lightness of the armor would dis- 
pel all fears of sinking the vessel. We congratulate Mr. Mallory 
upon having the means at his command for the sjjeedy completion 
of his gun-boats, now building in Confederate waters. If it be said 
that the power of resistance in pasteboard to bombardment is an 
untried experiment, we can only reply that as all our gun-boats are 
designed for destruction by their own commanders, it is really of 
very little importance whether the carton would resist a cannon-ball 
or not. 

So much for two-thirds of the paper money. As for the other 
third, let it be reduced to pulp, or papier rnache, and let this be 
moulded into statues for the completion of the Washington monu- 
ment. The heroic figure of the Secretary of the Treasury might be 
placed upon one of the vacant pedestals, that which was designed 
for the Finance of the Revolution in the person of Thomas Nelson, 
Jr. There would be a beautiful fitness in this ai^otheosis. 



FEBRUARY 20,1864. 

" Measures, not men," was some years ago a favorite cry with 
all parties. " Men, not measures," is the catch-word of Carlyle's 
hero-worship2)ing school. The true motto is the combination of 
both. The true philosophy of history — if there is any such thing 
— must keep steadily in view the mutual interaction of popular 
movements and of individual leaders. Those who are bent on see- 
ing in Islamism nothing but Mahomet, in the English Common- 
wealth nothing but Cromwell, in the French empire nothing but 
Napoleon, must be sorely puzzled by our present revolution and be 
fain to exclaim, with Byron, " We want a hero." One name there 
is, which we all love and venerate, a name which has received the 



consecration of the grave, l)iit the whole significance of this grand 
upheaval cannot be conveniently merged even in the illustrious per- 
son of Jackson. Valiant men we have had and still have in great 
numbers. The genius which understands how to evoke all the ener- 
gies of a people ; how to apply them aright when evoked, has not 
yet a])peared on our stage, or has haply been hustled off in the 
crowd of supernumeraries. In this great revolution of little men 
we miss even the average intelligence, the average forecast, the 
average of enlightened patriotism, which the representative form of 
government is supposed to secure ; and the citizens generally look 
with more dismay at the bearing of their delegates than at the 
sratherins: difficulties of the situation. The dissatisfaction of the 
people is re-echoed by the consciousness of their representatives 
themselves — some of whom were lately so frightened at the respon- 
sibility of their position, so thoroughly self-convicted of their in- 
competence to deal with the momentous questions before them, that 
they made, with all the boldness of despair, or entertained with all 
the calmness of resignation, the wildest propositions to divest them- 
selves, and through themselves the people, of rights Avhich have 
been regarded heretofore as almost indefeasible. In spite of this 
unwelcome phenomenon, we are not ready to pronounce the modern 
experiment of representative government a total failure. We are 
not ready to proclaim a dictatorship. The people are able and will- 
ino- to instruct their delearates, and if these delegates will only listen 
to the voice of their constituents, all will yet be well. Meanwhile 
it may be useful, in view of future elections, to pass in review the 
causes which have put so many incompetents in the late House of 
Representatives. 

Some of the members of the late Congress were elected on the ' 
rather unsatisfactory ground that they had served in the Congress 
of the old Union — in other words, that they had been party hacks, i 
As West Point was the plant-bed of our generals, so Washington 
was the seminary of our statesmen. We acknowledge that routine 
has its value in its place ; but the routine of caucus-holding, log- 
rolling, wire-pulling politicians, is worse than useless in a revolution. 
It is almost impossible for such men to rise to the height of the great 
argument which we are discussing; they have naturally kept up the 
old congressional jargon and played the old stage tricks, not know- 
ing, or affecting not to know, that the time for all these corrupt tra- 
ditions is either past or not yet come. 

Then we had the usual proportion, or rather disproportion of 
lawyers — another unfortunate heir-loom of American politics. Law- 
yers have a weakness for politics, as mathematicians for metaphysics ; 
and all experience shows how hopeless that weakness is. Wise and 
liberal legislation is not to be expected from counsel learned in the 
law ; and some of the most astounding resolutions offered during 
the late session emanated from men who have a certain local reputa- 
tion as practitioners at the bar. 

Another cause of the deficiencies which we deplore is to be 
sought in the actual scarcity of good material. Most of the real 



174 

ability of the country has been absorbed by the military service, and 
not, as some of our contemporaries would have us believe, by the 
department clerkships. When the war broke out, many of the fore- 
most men of the land, and many of prominent promise, engaged 
eagerly in the duty of repelling the invader. Of these, some have 
risen to high positions, which they can not conscientiously leave ; 
some have become wedded to a life which, in spite of its repulsive 
features, possesses a strange fascination ; while others are shattered 
wrecks of their former selves, and a large proportion have sealed 
their devotion with their life's blood. We do not subscribe to the 
vile French proverb, Vieux soldat,vleiUe hUe — but certainly the re- 
cent recommendations of so many distinguished officers in the mat- 
ter of recruiting our forces in the field, are calculated to stagger our 
ftxith in the intellectual abilities of our chieftains, whatever we may 
think of their subordinates. 

But the main reason, we take it, why the members of Congress 
seem to fall so far short of the just standard, is the intense thoughtful- 
ness of the people. In ordinary times there were too many men of 
intelligence, of culture, of true, though somewhat indolent, patriot- 
ism, who disdained to notice the squabbles of politicians, who feared 
to defile their hands by touching party pitch. They were grievously 
in the wrong, as they now know ; for these petty skirmishes indi- 
cated a general engagement, and all reform, from the cleansing of 
the Augean stables down to the purification of the Confederate com- 
missary department, is dirty work. But there is no danger of any 
such error now. Indiflerentism is impossible. The air we breathe 
is full of the questions of the day. The food we eat (or go without) 
suggests a variety of economic problems. The notes we handle 
are financial tracts. Not a detail of daily life but forces on our 
minds tlie thought of our ceaseless conflict with a powerful and ma- 
lignant foe. This steady, eager, painful thinking, has educated the 
best part of the people, and, so far from looking to Congress for ad- 
vice and encouragement, they are themselves the true counsellors, 
and the true preachers. The peo[)le of the Confederacy can dispense 
with the address with which their representatives have favored them. 
Nay, Congress would do well to heed the various addresses which 
the citizens of the Confederate States are putting forth from time to 
time, through the public press, in order to rebuke the Tribulation 
Trepids of both Houses. 



FEBRUARY 2 6, 18 64. 

There is buoyancy, after all, in the Confederate atmosphere. 
The air grows lighter and clearer around us ; and men begin to feel 
with a full assurance that our Confederacy is going right through. 
This improved tone in public feeling is partly due to the resolute 
action of Congress in the bills for maintaining an efficient army, 
and recoverino: financial health. ^ We are warranted in believing on 
the strength of these measures, that the country means to use, and 



175 

to exhau>;t, all its powers and resources of minri, body and estate, 
but it will win and wear the dear prize of independence. None so 
irrational now as to speak of any possible '' compromise ;" we can all 
see and appreciate what is to be our dreary fate in one event, our 
noble recompense in the other; nnd that between these two there is 
Nothing. This intimate conviction, and the open public pledge 
given by Congress that all of us shall submit to equal sacrifices in 
sustainment of the common cause, makes any nation of white men, 
of the right breed and blood, truly invincible. State is now surer 
of ^tate, and each man surer of every other man, than they were 
three months ago. 

Therefore, m spite of maladministration, or perverseness, or im- 
becility, there is a healthier confidence that the people will bring all 
right in the end. We are to have a splendid army in the field this 
coming spi'ing ; and one way or another it will be fed. That is 
enough; with that nothing can fatally hurt us. We can bear even 
General Bragg — for he is not to commaml any army in action ; and 
he will surely scarce order Lee to fall back, or Johnston's troops to 
hunt the duck in the Mississippi, or Beauregard to evacuate Charleston, \y 
or Polk and Maury to raise the white flag on the forts of Mobile. A 
One can even concede that even in his present dignity he may be 
rather useful than otherwise ; and, at any rate, this Confederate peo- 
ple is going to carry our cause through, and the whole Government 
along with it. On the march for independence and victory, inspired 
by such a fiery jjassion and strong hope, we have force to make 
light of every weioht : no incubus or old man of the sea, will weigh 
a feather. 'By heaven's blessing we will carry them all on our 
shoulders ; will pull through the very quartermasters, and even, if 
that be possible, the commissaries themselves — there will be a heavy 
drag, indeed ! 

Sometimes there is comfort in calling to mind that tiresome 
saying of the Swedish Chancellor — that it is wonderful how little 
wisdom goes to the government of men — comfort, we mean, to the 
governed : for, as to the governing (for the time being) they rather 
disrelish that maxim while in office. They are in the trade, and 
must look wise — it is impossible to he so wise as they look, — and, at 
any rate, even if the maxim were true, and they most potently 
believed the same, yet they hold it not courtesy to have it thus set 
down ; and for a great Chancellor, a Minister of State, and brother of 
the craft, to decry his own wares, and to spoil the trade in that kind 
of way, is a piece of weakness they cannot pardon in the too candid 
Oxenstiern. But to those who are, for the time being, not govern- 
ing, but governed, it mny be consolatory, while they see the incom- 
petence and perversity of rulers, to remember that this is the way 
such things are done — that we may not be much worse oflT than 
others, as men usually go — that most great things are accomplished 
in the main, not by governments, but by the resistless will of a 
roused national heart — that, through all, and in spite of all, the 
unwisdom of rulers, a nation's destiny accorapUshes itself, more or 



116 

less, according to that nation's deserts — and that tEe world, on the 
whole, wags. 

Here is the moral : that if we are resolved to be free, and worthy 
to be free, we shall be, in spite of the very devil. 

Now, it is a great thing to stand upon a basis of simple fact 
and truth. In this struggle, whichsoever of the two parties first 
gets himself upon that firm ground must win the day ; and we do 
not think that the Confederates are upon it now. They at least 
know that they must conquer or perish ; that compromise there can 
be none ; that the Federal power or the Confederate people must 
be ruined ; that we must dictate a peace, or else our enemies will ; 
we. on our terms, or they on theirs; we on their ground, or they 
on ours ; that they must be bankrupt and divided asunder, or we 
beggared and outlawed. Be it so ; and better so. We protest 
that this position of affiiirs is altogether to our mind ; if any Confed- 
erate slirink from abiding this issue, and in this exact form, it is 
time that such Confederate should gather up and clutch all he can 
lay his hands upon, turn it into gold and jewels, and sneak away across 
the lines, provided he can escape the robbers that infest those parts. 



13IAECH 5, 18 64. 
/ 

If the Confederate capital has been in the closest danger of 

massacre and conflagration ; if the President and cabinet have ruQ 

a serious risk of being hanged at their own doors, do we not owe it 

^ chiefly to the milk-and-water spirit in which this war has hitherto 

been conducted ? 

It is time to ask, in what light are the people of the Confederate 
States regarded by their own Government ? As belligerents, resist- 
ing by war an invasion from a foreign people, or as a gang of male- 
factors, evading and postponing the penalty of their crimes ? It 
may appear a strange question, yet the answer is not so distinct as 
could be desired. ' The enemy's Government, we know, takes the 
second view of our position. To the Washington authorities we 
are simply criminals awaiting punishment, who may be hanged or 
who may be pardoned. In their eyes our country is not ours, but 
theirs. The hostilities which they carry on are not properly war, 
but military execution and coercion. There is, in their opinion, no 
equality of rights between us, no more than there is between the 
police and a gang of garroters which the police is hunting down. 
Even the one symptom of apparent recognition upon their part, of 
our status as a war-making peoj)le, namely, the exchange of prison- 
ers (a measure to which policy compelled them for a little while), is 
at an end. We would not treat, forsooth, with Major-General 
Butler ! The outlaws, indeed, pretend to tastes and preferences as 
to which of the efficient police-constables shall be sent to deal with 
them. The fastidious creatures demand to be brought back to their 
duty by gentlemen-like officers, and to be handled with kid gloves, 
do thev ! 



177 

This, we are all aware, is the manner in which our enemies view 
the subject ; and, to do them justice, they act in accordance with 
their theory. But" we are to consider," it seems, "not what wicked 
enemies may deserve, but what it becomes us, as Christians and 
gentlemen, to inflict." Oh, hypocrisy ; and thou forty-parson power 
which alone can sound its praise through thy forty noses ! What 
cant is this ! What comfort are these tine sentiments to the house- 
less families who have been driven from their homes, when they 
find that our armies, even on the enemy's soil, are withheld from 
giving the invaders a taste of real war in their own quenclied hearths 
and blazing barns ? For what have we set over us a Government 
at all, if it be not to protect us against our enemies ; to avenge us 
when need is ; to uphold our cause in all its fullness and grandeur, 
and to keep our banner flying high ? — but this is lowering the cause, 
and dragging the banner through the dust : this is encouraging, in- 
viting our invaders to ravage and pillage us at pleasure, sure that 
they will not be visited with the like in their turn ; — the Christianity 
and chivalry of all this is for the enemy — to us and ours it is cruelty 
and contempt. It was not for this our fields have been soaked with 
the choicest blood of our children these three terrible years. 

It is very painful to think it ; still more to say it ; but the simple 
truth is, that after all the hardships we have undergone, and the 
victories we have won, our enemy is gradually gaining over us the 
great moral advantage and prestige that oflScers of the law have over 
malefactors. So often and so long have we yielded to their preten- 
sions of superiority, and suflfered them to deny our equal right, that 
it must end in demoralizing and quelling our spirit. The Yankee 
now seems not to stand opposite to us with the sword, but to stand 
over us with the whip, which, from time to time, he cracks. ' And 
we are Virginians, Carolinians, the " chivalry " (God bless us !) of 
this Continent, and that policeman there, with his baton, is the vul- 
gar and despised Yankee, Soon, at this rate, all the pluck will be 
taken out of us ; we shall be rebels confessed; and it is not war that 
will finish the work, but criminal jurisprudence and prosecuting 
attorneys ; not generals, but constables ; not the sabre, but the 
handcuff. The sword is too bright, too high-tempered, too noble 
an instrument to be used upon such material ; they will substitute 
tbe lash. 

What, then, would we practically suggest? First, to put to 
death all " raiders " caught in the lact ; secondly, to insist upon the 
most scrupulous carrying out of retaliation for murders, robberies, 
and other outrages, with the most punctual exactitude ; we cannot 
afford now^ if we would recover our rightful position, to bate them 
one jot or tittle ; thirdly, on our next entry into Pennsylvania and 
the parts adjacent, to remember with jealous accuracy the proceed- 
ings of the enemy's generals on our own soil. We have no use for 
any Christian gentleman who will come short of these requirements. 
It is time that our kind and religious rulers should begin to show 
mercy to us ; and as the first and most urgent work of necessity and 
mercy, it is right and expedient that the robbers and fire-raiders 



178 

just apprehended on the peninsula meet with a qiiick trial and a 
dog's death. 



MARCH 11, 186 4. 

The last homage which the Yankees have paid to the shade of 
John Brown in the late Dahlgren raid may yet cost the invaders 
dear. The Government is nerveless and vacillating as usual, but 
the temper of the peo})le is at a white heat, Never in the course of 
the war have the devilish intentions of our enemies been so distinct- 
ly enunciated. This last lesson will not be lost ; for Inckily it is not 
too late to learn. At the outset of this campaign, in ■which the ad- 
vantages are on our side, with our ranks filled and our financial 
troubles in the course of a happy adjustment, our foes have thrust 
a terrible weapon into Southern hands, a weapon, which, for various 
reasons, the South has hitherto forborne to use. It is, we admit, a 
sword that cuts both ways, a sword with a spiked hilt, which will 
gall the hand that wields it with an uncertain grasp, but it is an ef- 
fective instrument, and it is better to employ it in any way than to 
bow our necks to the axe, or to bare our backs to the lash of those 
who set up to be executioners. If we were dealing with any other 
people than the Yankee nation, we should prefer to fight under the 
starry cross of our battle-flag ; but we have no choice. The black- 
ness of darkness has veiled the stars and hid the cross of our ensign. 
Chivalry and Christianity, as emblemed in our banner, as symbolized 
in our seal, and proclaimed in our motto, are not idle terms when 
we have to do with men. But mad dogs and mad Yankees are to 
be dispatched with the first implement of destruction that comes to 
hand. Let every Yankee robber die the " ignominious death " which 
their late leader expected for the stragglei*s of his pack of hell- 
hounds, and let us begin at once with the picked gang of maraud- 
ers, whose fate should be decided, not by the amount of mischief 
which they actually accomplished, but by the outrages which they 
came to perpetrate. 

We can stop these raids ; we . can paralyze these miscreants. 
That we have not done so more eftectually heretofore is due to a 
pitiable imbecility in the administration, and, we regret to say, an 
equally lamentable supineness on the part of the resident popula- 
tion. What has been, hitherto, and elsewhere than in Richmond, 
the noble utterances of the farmers ? " Bury the silver ! Hide 
the bacon ! Drive off the stock ! Send the negroes ' southward ! ' 
Stay at home and beg the Yankees to have mercy on our 
women and children, and not consume all our corn and provender." 
In their vocabulary there were no sucli words as rifle, powder-honi 
and shot-pouch. Now, let it be distinctly understood, that when 
we handle such maraudiug expeditions as these, no quarter is to be 
given to them by the Government, and hence that the raiders will 
give none to those who submit to fall into their hands, and a very 
difierent spirit will animate the people, who are not cowards, but 
simply selfish. Let it be distinctly understood that though there 



179 

may be exempts from regular service, there are no non-combatants 
in sucli a struog-le as this, that every man -vvho can raise a finger, 
MUST raise that finger in defence of liis liome; and efficient organi- 
zations will spring uj) in every rural ncighborliood. And hang the 
robbers. That is a necessity. That thing must be done if the coun- 
try is to escape pillage and the town confiagration. Hang them as 
soon as they are caught. Hang them and let them remain hanging, 
as a sign of the " Entertainment for Man and Beast " which wc offer 
to the Yankee race. 



MARCH 2 5, 18 64. 

A PERPETUAL wonder to the many who do not stop to think, is 
the cheerfulness of those who have lost every thing by the flood of 
invasion, and the patiiotism of those who have been left by our re- 
ceding armies within the enemy's lines. The leading optimists in 
the Confederacy are those who have had their mansions pillaged and 
then burnt ; who have had their lands laid Avaste and their negroes 
caiTiedoff"; who have lost all the elegant appliances of life, and 
have seen, Avith their own eyes, the treasured heir-looms of past gen- 
erations carted off" by a Yankee general or pocketed by a Yankee 
l^rivate. The leading pessimists are those Avho have thus far come 
oft' scot-free from the great reckoning betAveen the tAvo races, Avho 
have made money instead of losing it, Avho haA^e been subjected to 
no sacrifices, who haA'e kept up the old style of living, and have kept 
aloof from the ncAV style of dying. When our annies are encamped 
on the debateable ground Avhich has been raked time and again by 
the harroAV of Avar ; Avhen our scouts penetrate into the regions 
which the enemy infest, they find a more cordial Avelcome and meet 
with more hospitable treatment than in those sections Avhere the 
Yankee has never set his foot. The country is stripped, but from 
mysterious recesses something is brought forth for the hungry Con- 
federate, who might ask in vain for food in counties Avhich the 
Federals liave not yet ransacked. The land is one A^ast common, 
but the little patches of ground which the impoverished owners 
still cultivate, seem to yield more than the broad acres of the wealth- 
iest planters. The houses ai"e in ruins, but the Confederate soldier 
is greeted more gladly under the shattered or charred roof-ti-ee than 
in comfortable dAvellings farther South. The homely, hearty appel- 
lation, " our boys," once so common, is noAV confined to the army 
itself and to the border country. Quarter a regiment of caA'alry or 
a battalion of artillei-y in the interioi*, even if it be but a short dis- 
tance back of our lines, and there is no end of lamentations, objur- 
gations, and railing accusations. Alas ! for the stuck pigs and the 
slaiiglitered sheep. The devil take the artillery ! Alas ! for the 
poultry-yard, " ' henless,' and ' chickless ' in its ' cockless ' woe.'* 
The devil fetch the cavalry ! Alas ! for the hay-stack and the straAV- 
rick ! The devil seize the artillery, the cavalry, the soldiers gener- 
ally ! 



180 

But there is nothing surprising in all this ; and it is not worth the 
while to quarrel with human nature because it is so mean or to deify 
it because it is so heroic. In this momentous struggle, it is a great 
gain for a man to bring home to his mind the reality of the issues 
before him ; and the shortest road to that end is sacrifice — voluntary 
or involuntary. A few, and but few, in the whole Confederacy faced 
the great alternative calmly and deliberately at the very outset. 
The masses were right at heart, but they were not conscious of the 
full import of the phrases which they used so freely. Since then 
many — how many — have had practical illustrations in their persons 
and property as to the real meaning of the war and the real purposes 
of the Yankees. Of these, small is the proportion who have kissed 
the rod and bowed the knee. The vast majority are firmer than 
ever, and more buoyant than ever, because their doubts are all gone 
with their property. Their losses are investments which can be 
made good, if not in kind, yet in a higher sense made good b y per- 
sevei"ance and the siiccess which waits on perseverance. Their hearts 
are in their treasure. If defection comes at all, it will come not 
from those who have sufiered most, but from those who have suffer- 
ed least, and who hope that, at the worst, they can make a tolerable 
comj^osition with the invader. If it is true that whoso loves much 
gives much, it is also true that he who gives much learns to love 
much ; and what is true of individuals is true of States. Compare 
the late message of Georgia's Governor with the address of the 
exiled Chief JVIagistrate of Louisiana. We have no far inland 
Arcadia ground which the tide of invasion has swept innocuous. 
All have suffered and all are true. But there is no sorrow like unto 
the sorrow of Virginia, and there is no faith more staunch than 
hers. 

It is not without reason, therefore, that the grim wish is some- 
times uttered that the Yankees would give certain lukewarm locali- 
ties a taste of their quality, for a touch of Yankee, does, beyond 
a question, make all Confederates kin. But we hope that any further 
chastening of this kind is not seriously needed. There is reason to 
believe that the whole Southern community, with the ample sacri- 
fices required, will henceforth serve the common cause with more 
perfect singleness of heart, and bear the common burden with a 
more patient spirit. 



MAE CH 26,1864. 

It is painful to be obliged to treat seriously so revolting an idea 
as that of receiving Butler as the Yankee agent of exchange ; yet 
the matter is really a serious one : it gravely affects two most vital 
questions ; firet, the honor of the Confederate Government, and 
second, the whole policy and theory of this war. The first and 
main concern is, of course, the national honor of the Government ; 
"which, indeed, embraces and overrides the other consideration ; be- 
cause there can never be for any people either policy or expediency 



181 

in self-abasement and degradation. No nation can afford dishonor : 
the expenses and sacritices of years of war yet to come we^can endure ; 
but disgrace never. It would be the loss and ruin, in advance, of 
our whole cause. If there be any one thing good, heroic, invincible, in 
this Confederacy, it is the high, keen spirit of its best citizens: that 
heroic quality could not survive deliberate humiliation, deliberate 
admission by our Government that we cannot, or dare not, stand up 
to our word, and put our solemnly declared principles into action. 
The question at issue here may be represented as a trifling detail. 
Not so ; it would be deeply, painfully felt by every man of principle 
in the country, to be a virtual surrender of our whole light and status 
as a belligerent power, a virtual admission that we are indeed noth- 
ing but rebels and criminals, evading justice and postponing pun- 
ishment : and many a good old Virginian, who has sent his sons 
proudly and gladly to the field, to vindicate the sovereignty of a 
State, and the haughty independence of a National Government, 
would then bitterly grudge every drop of blood that his children 
have spilled. He would feel that the enemy has been allowed slowly, 
but surely, to surround himself with all the /»res^i'^e inseparable from 
the party having law on its side, and therefore enabled to take a 
high tone, and deal with a high hand; while we Confederates take 
the airs and use the language of an equal and independent power, 
only by fits and starts, snatching here and there at a thin pretext of" 
dignity, but ready to drop it hastily at the first summons of its real 
owners, i.nd our real masters. 

You cannot separate national honor from policy or expediency. 
Yet try to consider this latter part of the case by itself Is it poli- 
tic and expedient to teach our enemy that we are ready to yield up 
all our rights for fear of the consequences of exacting and enforcing 
them ? That we are ready to say, if we retaliate any outrage the 
enemy will retaliate back again — let us not retaliate : if we keep our 
word in the matter of Butler, then they will hold our prisoners — let 
us not keep our word. Why not say, also, when they are marching 
into our country, if we fire upon them they will fire back at us ; 
cease firing ! Once entered upon this path there is no stopping ; 
every day must give them more and greater advantage, until they 
have, indeed, the top-hold, the whip-hand : every communication 
between us then would not be a negotiation, but an order or edict 
de haut en bas. This cannot be policy in a struggle for national 
independence, which the present is supposed to be. On tbe contrary, 
it is we, it is the party assailed, invaded, and sought to be reduced 
to subjection, who cannot afford for one moment to bate one jot or 
tittle of our highest pretensions. 

If we stand firm, Lincoln must yield and drawback from this 
insolent and outrageous demand. He has nothing to lose, person- 
ally, by appointing some less obnoxious agent: we, by accepting 
Butler, should lose all. We should lose our seh"-respect, cur dignity, 
our honor. But if the Government be indeed so insane as to receive 
Butler, the evil effects will by no means be confined to this isolated 
humiliation, and the triumph of the enemy over our Southern " chiv- 



182 

airy." "Who cares for this Butler? And what are their vulgar 
boastings to us? But the case is this: — if the GoA'ernraent should, 
in tliis instance, belie its own proclamation, men would say, ichich 
of its proclamations, then, which of its declarations and solemn 
pledges, does it mean to observe, and which to violate ? The Presi- 
denthas, in other eloquent proclamations and declarations, enunci- 
ated certain principles and resolves — for example, that the Confeder- 
acy has determined to make itself independent at all hazards and 
sacrifices ; that in no case, on no terms, Avill we ever live in political 
union with the Yankee nation again. The question would soon 
arise, Are these some of the things that the President meant when 
he said them, or that he did not mean ? Seeing that one deliberate 
proclamation is trampled under foot, Avhy not another? The whole 
question is open. Policy and expediency may any day dictate the 
quiet ignoring of some other declared resolve of the Government : 
considerations of humanity, wish to stop effusion of blood, a pi'esent 
from Mr. Lincoln of vaccine matter, chloroform, we know not what, 
may be urged as reasons to depart from the extreme rigor of these 
resolutions, and to make on one of them, or on all of them, some 
sort of compromise. As we write the word, we sliiver. 

The people (thank God!) are up to the mark, up to the work; 
they meant and mean to carry out all these proclamations and mes- 
*sages to their fullest extent. The soldiers have Ijidden adieu to their 
families and gone to the field, taking their lives in their hands, to 
rescue their native land from the pollution of a base invader, or else 
to die. They are either the soldiers of an independent Government, 
or else they are brigands and rebels, with no rights at all. They 
expect their Government to maintain their position, and its own : it 
is for that they have constituted a GoA^ernment. It is sad when your 
leader has to be dragged and goaded, to make him so much as fol- 
low. A government oiiglit to be the head and heart of a national 
movement, not the tail, not the posteriors. 



MARCH 29, ] 864. 

The result of the military council held at Washington in the 
early days of this month, was correctly stated in the columns of this 
paper, on better information than our generals sometimes get from 
their trading scouts. We endeavored to call attention to the decis- 
ion of the United States Government, — that the next campaign 
should be made against Richmond — that the whole veteran force of 
the United States should be consolidated in Virginia under Grant; 
and that nothing further should be attempted in the South and West 
until the chief object was accomplished. We understand that our 
warning created some merriment in official circles. Our military 
Solomons were too well satisfied that there would not be another 
great battle fought in Virginia during the war ; and that the great 
campaign was to be looked after in Georgia. Official facts, now weU- 



183 

known to all, show who was right and who was wrong. Grant has 
even been made Commander-in-Chief. Not a commander-in-chief 
after the manner of Ilalleck ; not a bureau officer at Washington ; 
but Commander-in-Chief on the field. He takes the chief armj' in 
his hands, and does not ask Lincoln for more troops, but orders thera 
up to his headquarters from any part of the country. His main 
object, like that of all other generals, is victory and success tohere he 
in person shall eoinmand. To secure success there, every general 
will, if he has the power, strip all other quarters of troops. To 
Grant that ]>o\verhas been given — a power hitherto unknown, except 
when sovereigns have been on the field as commanders — and Grant 
has assumed the personal cc^nmand of the " Army of the Potomac." 
This fact removes all ground of doubt. The campaign of 18G4 will 
be here, in Virginia, against Richmond. The war elsewhere will 
stand still. The best parts of the army of Chattanooga, and that of 
the Mississippi, will be seen here. Already they are assembling at 
Annapolis, in Maryland. 

Grant is now the pet bubble of the Yankees, which that bubble- 
worshipping people are blowing as they never blew bubble before. 
Grant is the newly-discovered Hercules, who is to crush the eleven 
heads of the Southern hydra. Grant is the rebel-slayer and traitor- 
eater who is to make mince-meat of secession, exterminate the slave 
oligarchy, put the chivalry hors de combat, and swallow all the fire- 
eaters Avith a wink. Grant, who whipped Bragg at Missionary 
Ridge ; who took Vicksburg and Pemberton, with Pemberton's 
army, all Pemberton's bacon, flour, sugar, rice, beans, and potatoes ; 
who got whipped at Shiloh, and was saved next day by Buell ; 
who, with eighty-four regiments at Donelson, beat ten regiments of 
Kentucky Home-Guards, aided by a few Virginians and Tennesse- 
ans, after a battle of three days and four nights ; — Grant is the 
warrior whose prowess and fortune ai'e to plant the eagle's victory 
upon every peak of the Alleghanies ; iipon each bluff of the Mis- 
sissippi; around the entire Gulf and Ocean coasts, and upon every 
Capitol of the insurgent States. To do all this. Grant is trammelled 
with but one single order — "subdue the rebellion;" and furnished 
with an authority over the entire military force of his nation never 
before possessed by any general, except when that general was an 
absolute sovereign in the field. 

Strange to say, the South regards the appointment of Grant to 
supreme command with a sort of satisfaction. They believe this 
favorite Yankee general to be nothing else than Avhat is called, in 
homely phrase, a humbug. They consider him formidable only in 
the fact that, having the confidence of the Yankees, and the support 
of their Government, he may bring together larger military forces 
and employ more unlimited military resources than any general of 
less celebrity among his countrymen. Neither our army, our gener- 
als, nor our people entertain much respect for the military capacity 
of this officer, who has won i-eputation solely by the follies and 
faults of Jefferson Davis. But they do hold him in respect by virtue 



184 

of the formidable numbers that always attend his standard, and 
which will now be controlled by him more than ever before. 

This opposite appreciation of Grant by the two belligerents is 
characteristic of both peoples. Tlie North admires success ; the 
South, merit. The fault and folly of the Yankees is their overween- 
ing admiration for mere success, without regard to means ; — whether 
it be in generalship, statesmanship, fortune-making, pulpitizing, im- 
pudence, insolence, vulgarity, or any other pursuit or characteristic, 
reputable or disreputable. Grant as a general, Seward as a poli- 
tician, Lincoln as an unworthy winner of the Presidency by lotteiy, 
Barnum as the prince of humbug-mongers, Beecher as the cleverest 
of religious hypocrites, Heenan as a scientific bruiser, Law and Van- 
derbilt as millionaires by infinite frauds, Butler as model pilferer 
and despot, — these are the sort of worthies whose lives some Yankee 
Fuller will write for the admiration of remote Yankee generations. 

The South is never imposed upon by base metal ; her people 
look for merit and genius ; and they bestow admiration only where 
these are found to be real and genuine. They look upon Grant as a 
hero by circumstance, accident, and Confederate folly ; and they 
hold him in no sort of awe, except in regard to the formidable forces 
which he is always allowed to accumulate under his command. In 
the present campaign, the reputation Avhich he enjoys at the North 
will enure to the profit of the Confederacy ; for its generals will only 
have to ascertain where Grant intends to operate in person, to pre- 
pare to beat him by a corresponding concentration of their own 
forces. That point is no longer uncertain. 

The mere appointment carries no danger in it to the South. 
The danger lies in the large- accumulation of forces which is per- 
mitted to this general alone. \\ ith respect to the mass of troops 
which he will concentrate against Richmond, he is formidable ; and 
the South must expect and prepare for the most formidable inva- 
sion, under his lead, that has yet been precipitated upon her. 
Grant's generalship she may afibrd to defy, but Grant's army she 
must prepare to resist, here, in Virginia, if anywhere with success. 



APRIL 8, 1864. 

Humiliation, fasting, and prayer are suitable to these days 
The shuffling recognition of that felonious Major-General Butler as. 
a military commissioner ti'eating with this Government — the practi- 
cal withdraAval of that public, solemn proclamation denouncing him 
as a thief and murderer, outside " the pale of military respecta- 
bility ;" the kind and gracious message (reported by a contempo- 
rary) sent by the felon, through Commissioner Quid, to the Presi- 
dent, to the eficct that Major-General Butler is now satisfied with 
him, and that he, the Major-General, is proud to belong to the 
" Democratic jDarty," and cherishes a sincere admiration and esteem 
for Jefferson Davis ; these things promote, in a salutary manner, 



185 

that chastening of the heart which properly prepares U3 for fasting 
and humiliation on this appointed Friday. 

Notliing is wanting to this humbling lesson. We declare that we 
will not receive such a criminal under the safeguard of a flag of 
truce, nor treat with him in any manner. He knows what Con- 
federate proclamations are made of: he does not coax or flatter us 
by any means ; he does not come up to City Point to see whether 
he will .be received or not : he simply establishes himself in our 
Virginian Fortress Monroe, and says, when you are quite ready, 
chivalrous Confederates, you may come to me, under flag of truce, 
and perhaps I may receive you : — and we go ; and are benevolently 
received; for Butler would not break the bruised reed: he even 
sends back an indulgent and encouraging message, lest we be too 
much cast down. 

Propitiated by our self-abasement, he condescends to enter upon 
negotiations with Commissioner Ould, and arranges a resumption of 
exchange under the cartel. But this is not all; — we learn by New 
York papeis (not yet through our own official channels), that the 
body of Dahlgren, committed obscurely to the earth somewhere near 
this city, is to be exhumed as soon as possible and restored to the 
sorrowing parent of that dashing house-burner. Doubtless it will 
be delivered at Fortress Monroe with military h(mors, and under a 
salute of Confederate guns at the departure from hereabouts : for 
Dahlgren was a graduate of West Point; probably a member of 
the Democratic party, too ; and how can simple civilians, or soldiers 
of a mere " jjrovisional army," presume to say that a West-Pointer 
had not a perfect right to pelt us with oakum balls, and sprinkle us 
with turpentine ? What can we know of the true principles of 
" military respectability ?" 

At any rate, humiliation is our cue this week. We can now point 
with the utmost confidence to at least one proclamation of the Presi- 
dent, which was intended to be serious, and carried out to the very« 
letter. Confederate proclamations, of a "proud," a "defiant," or 
menacing tone, do not perhaps now command much respect ; but when 
the President announces humiliation, he means it. Mr. Davis has the 
reputation of unbending obstinacy and hauteur ; but that is for his 
friends. When his own supporters and rightful counsellors, the 
men who created this Confederate movement, and elevated him to 
his great office, approach him with respectful advice or remonstrance, 
it may be that he is hard as flint ; but let the public enemy command 
him at his peril, to eat his own words and come down from his high 
ground, and who so politic or "reasonable" as he? His stern self- 
will is for us, his confederates ; his gracious gentleness for our foes. 
Triumph and gratified pride are for them ; for us, ftisting, humilia- 
tion, and prayer. 

Thus we prepare ourselves, and we trust our readers also, to meet 
in fitting frame of mind, the services of Friday, the 8th of April. 
Let us fast on this day, as only Confederates can. Let us clothe our 
souls in the sackcloth and ashes of humility : and let us pray, say- 
ing : " From all privy conspiracy and hugger-mugger — from cant- 
13 



186 



ing nnd re-canting, and all other shuffling sin — from the crafts and 
assaults of the devil, and Yankee democrats — Good Lord deliver us ! " 



APRIL 20, 1864. 

If the Government of the old United States was indeed " the 
best the world ever saw," it is we who have it and hold it. If it 
was a light to lighten the nations, it is we, who kindled the 
Pharos atT first, that keep the light l)uining there still. As to " civil- 
ization," in its high and true meaning, we trust that there is no 
comparison whatever bet ween us. The abandoned people whom we 
have cast out, are quickly losing all sense of that higher meaning 
which indeed, they never were sufficiently advanced to comprehend ; — 
they think that civilization means gas and steam, printing presses and 
rapid railroads — no matter what pollution those presses pour forth, 
no matter on what base errand men rush so fast along their iron roads. 
Of the development of those faculties and sentiments which fit us to 
live as members of a political community and a cultivated society, 
they are rapidly losing all thouglit, all care. They are forgetting 
the use of their mother-tongue, which is not only itself an evil, but 
the sure sign of much other and deeper evil. 

In our respective relations to the negro race, the contrast be- 
tween us is most satisfactory of all. There can be no longer any 
question which of us two, the Confederate or the Yankee, is the real 
friend and protector of the black ; the most feeble-minded of our 
once doubting people, has only to consider the fate of those of our 
poor slaves who have tasted the tender mercies of abolition ; the 
weltering, festering masses of filth and disease, where multitudes of 
negro women, children, and old men are perishing miserably, while 
the able-bodied men are goaded forward by bayonets to take the 
first volleys, and make a breastwork with their bodies for their phil- 
anthropic protectors. If any one doubt what is in store for those 
poor creatures, let him read the proceedings of a meeting which re- 
vealed the desperate struggle for life amongst the whites themselves 
in that northern country. Competition of black people with them 
is simply out of the question : and what then remains for the black 
peojjle? Death: death, slow but sure; in negro-pens and pest- 
houses; on public works and fortifications, where contractors will 
understand that they accomplish a patriotic duty in starving and 
slaving them to death. Many do and will escape from the fatal 
toils, and come back to search for their masters ; but the majority 
will perish miserably ; death alone will set them free. " These are 
the bones of slaves," in the words of tuneful Longfellow ; bones 
which will long cry out to heaven " We are the witnesses !" Wit- 
nesses, indeed, of the savage philanthropy of Yankees in the nine- 
teenth century. 

So the progress of events makes our Confederate cause ever 
plainer to our minds, and dearer to our hearts. Freedom, civiliza- 
tion, and humanity are all with us ; all against our enemies. 



187 



APRIL 22, 18G4. 



Washington", Scott, Grant; these three names, the only ones 
that have ever been dignified with tlie title of lieutenant-general, in 
the United States, mark three widely different epochs, and snm up 
the rnpid degradation of a people. In the political hierarchy, the 
names of Washington and Lincoln express a still more complete de- 
generacy, though broken by more intervening gradations. 

Upon the illustrious Virginian, who, in the early days of the 
Republic, first bore the title of lieutenant-general, and served the 
Government which his native State had the principal part in estab- 
lishing, mankind has set the seal of undying fame. Even the mon- 
grel hordes against whom, if his lot had been cast in the present 
age, he would have now been defending his native soil with the same 
spirit with which he fought for it against the arms of George the 
Third, are forced to feign admiration of a virtue they are incapable 
of comprehending, and to claim the honor of a common country 
with him to whom they would have been the most alien and repul- 
sive of mortals. 

The second on the list, also a Virginian, is a proper emblem of 
a declining period. Not deficient in military talent, but void of the 
loftier qualities which make up the complete warrior-statesman, he 
played his part with sufiicient credit in ordinary times. His ridicu- 
lous foibles were overlooked by an indulgent country, and his egre- 
gious vanity could hardly be condemned with severity by a people 
of which the larger division was the most vainglorious of communi- 
ties, and the most blatant of boasters. Unfortunately for himself, 
he lived long enough to witness a crisis demanding higher purpose 
and more exalted generosity than he possessed. His present igno- 
miny is the result. 

The last of the lieutenant-generals, who at present commands the 
well-thrashed Army of the Potomac, is a worthy type of the Yan- 
kee nation, now that it is thrown upon its own unaided resources 
for the production of heroes. His capture of Vicksburg, after the 
fruitless attempt of a year, by a species of lucky coup de main and 
with an overwhelming force, would scarcely suffice to establish his 
military fame, no matter of how great advantage it might prove in 
the general progress of the war. But in a contest where they can 
scarcely boast of a single victoiy upon a fair field, and where suc- 
cessive heroes have been raised up — young Napoleons and all — only 
to be shivered to pieces like the toys of a capricious child, or the 
idols of a savage tribe whose prayers have not been granted, it is 
pardonable that the Yankees should make the most of a victory 
without examining too closely into its nature, and should extol a suc- 
cessful general without minutely scrutinizing his merits. " In the 
country of the blind," says the French proverb, "the one-eyed man 
is king." In the country of the McClellans, the Burnsides, and the 
Hookers, Grant may be fairly entitled to supremacy. 

Whether his countrymen appreciate his relative merits justly, or 



not, is a question for themselves. The honors which they shower 
upon him are certainly characteristic of them, and are marked by 
the taste which is peculiar to the Yankee. The title of lieutenant- 
goneral suggests the image of the first of tliat rank. Imagine 
Washington mounted upon a sofa in the White House in order to 
receive the plaudits of swindling Yankee contractors, boorish ])oli- 
ticians, and sallow, sharp-visaged, over-dressed, " niiscegenating " 
women. Fancy Seward exhibiting the conquering hero, like a tamed 
lion, to the gazing audience. Picture him the centre of attraction 
to the gorging multitude of a mammoth table d''h6ti\ and think 
what immense strides we mitst make in order to comprehend the 
three degrees of comparison, from the first to the last of the lieu- 
tenant-generals. 

But it is not only in empty applause that his countrymen testify 
their admiration. With that barbaric love of show which has dis- 
played itself so fi-equently in their conduct, they have just presented 
their chosen chieftain with a sword worthy of the Great Mogul. 
Diamonds and precious stones of a wonderful value ornament this 
magnificent weapon, and recall to our mind the example of Asiatic 
potentates, who, in conflict with simpler warriors, have so often 
learned the pregnant truth that iron can always command gold. It 
is not by jewelled swords or splendid truncheons of command that 
Lee is to be vanquished. Paeans of victory before the commence- 
ment of the battle, and anticipated glorification of their commander, 
will not suffice to make the Yankee army superior to that which lias 
so often overcome it. 



MA T 4, 18 64. 

That the war " is still characterized by the barbarities with 
which it has heretofore been conducted by the en»my ; " that foreign 
governments '•'■ i^ersist in countenancing, if not in aiding " that 
enemy; that "in disregard of duty and treaty obligations " those 
foreign governments persist in refusing to recognize our independ- 
ence ; that there is nothing satisfactory to report touching exchange 
of prisoners, inasmuch as "the Government of the United States 
persists in failure to execute the terms of the cartel ;" — these things 
are certainly sad to contemplate. No wonder it gives our President 
pain to notice, yet once more, the distressing facts. That persons, 
nay, whole Governments, enjoying the full blaze of Christian civili- 
zation, and living in the nineteenth century, should not only resort 
to wicked courses and derelictions of duty, but persist in the same, 
after the improjjriety of their conduct has been duly expounded to 
them, is nothing short of sinning against the light. What could we 
have done, it may be asked, that we have not already done, to 
bring our invaders and the outside nations to a sense of their duty ? 
As to the barbarities of the war, we have heretofore, in several 
executive messages, and even special proclamations, charged their 
cruelty straight home to the hard-hearted Yankees ; we have gone 



189 

the length of threatening to return barbarity for barbarity, but our 
enemy knew that we were too religious and chivalrous for that ; we 
have macerated ourselves with fasting and prayer, and more espe- 
cially with humiliation, and they have wished us joy of it. To con- 
vince and convert foreign nations to a recognition of our cause, we 
have spared no labor, no expense. Swarms of "agents," known to 
our Secretary of State, in the Grand Hotel du Louvre, judge and 
decide, with gnostic palate, the merit of the vintages of Chamber- 
tin (whereof each glass costs us about three pounds of cotton), and 
it would not be too much to assert that we have devoted the whole 
Hebrew talent of the Parish of Plaquemines — a learned parish in 
Louisiana — to the task of enlightening Europe. An eloquent Liver- 
pool factor, named Spence, is also paid in present gold, and a hope 
of noble contracts, to make promises for us to enlightened Europe. 
What more could we do in that department ? 

In the matter of the cartel and the exchange of prisoners, we 
have gone even greater lengths to soothe and flatter our enemies in 
fulfilling their agreement. Our Commissioner has sneaked humbly 
to Fortress Monroe, and, under flag of truce, has sought an inter- 
view with Majoi'-General Butler ; who condescended indeed to re- 
ceive him, and even gave him hope of resuming the exchange un- 
der the terras settled by the cartel ; yet still there is nothing satis- 
factory to report: at rare intervals, a few disabled Confederate 
prisoners do come, who may, it is thought, be more properly fed and 
nursed in the Confederacy than abroad ; but on the whole some- 
thing seems still wanting to ensure to us the speedy restoration of 
those fifteen thousand muskets promised. We think we know 
what it is ; and, until this needful form shall have been complied 
with, our Government cannot say that it has done all it could do to 
put the exchange on an easy footing ; General Butler wants, in 
order to satisfy his wounded dignity, a formal and written disavowal 
of the President's proclamation which denounced him as a felon, 
and of Mr. Quid's letter placing him " out of the pale of military 
respectability." On receiving a shoit paper of this kind — mere 
matter of form — it is understood that General Butler would at once 
begin sending us our fifteen thousand prisoners — unless some other 
valid obstacle should arise. 

On the whole, however, here are three matters of very consider- 
able importance, upon all which the message of the President pre- 
sents us with a ^uite unflivorable report. With regard to the bru- 
talities committed by the enemy upon our defenceless old men, 
women and children, the President thinks there is a mode of redress 
and eventual reparation. " Sooner or later," he says, " Christendom 
must mete out to them the condemnation which such brutality de- 
serves." We doubt this: we should like to have abetter security. 
Christendom loves successful and unpunished atrocities : it is only 
those for which vengeance is exacted — you may remark — that Chris- 
tendom condemns. Perhaps there is some more immediate and 
efficient remedy which might suggest itself to the President, in his 



190 

capacity of militnry commander-in-chief, if be "would apply to it the 
energies of his powerful mind. 

Perhaps we have gone the wrong way to work also with the 
Powers of Europe. Possibly the statesmen of that continent, contrary 
to all expectation, have not been deeply impressed by the diplomatic 
talent of Plaquemines Parish, whether of the circumcision or of tiie 
uncircumcision. One might, perhaps, venture to suggest — as the first 
step in the right direction — that all our emissaries be suddenly re- 
cnllecl, that they may cease to solicit unavailing interviews with 
clerks of secretaries of ministers, who heartily wish they were all 
dead. 

To rectify the difficulty about exchange of prisoners, we should 
not, after all, recommend that Butler be really propitiated by the 
written apology and retraction which he requires. Of one thing the 
public may be well assured, that there will be no regular exchange 
under the cartel until there is an excess of prisoners in our hands. 
Another matter may be set down as equally certain, that we may as 
well drop the appeals to "humanity," and that "Christendom" will 
not help us at all. 



MA F 12, 1864. ^ 

A BRAVE man struggling with adversity presents human nature 
in its grandest form. This has been accepted in ancient and in mod- 
ern times. The storm which develops danger, magnifies the value 
of the skill and courage that rides through it. Fear betrays like 
treason. The courage which holds at even work moderate abilities, 
is of far more value in troubled times than the higher intellect agi- 
tated and paralyzed by fear. A calm, steady temper exhibited by 
those in conspicuous positions, soon communicates its influence to all 
the land. The courage that will carry us through the present crisis, 
is the steady determuiation that fastens each individual to the part 
of the great plan to which he has been assigned. We want no 
spasmodic eftbrt to accomplish what cannot be done. Flurry and 
excitement accomplish nothing except to disorganize all rational ex- 
ertion. They spring out of fear and they generate fear. They will 
do where spectacles are exhibited for amusement, but not where 
examples are needed for action. 

Our civil authorities have just now a great p*irt to play before 
the country. If they abandon in cold cowardice the post of duty, 
of course the contagion of a bad example spreads. But a regular, 
constant, brave industry, addressed to the duties of their position, will 
be of infinite value in the reassuring influences disseminated every- 
where. This is the part which Congress must perform or abandon. 
It must run from its duties, and, to the extent of its influence, spread 
panic abroad, or it must, with unexcited energy, perform its great 
duties, and give to the whole country the encouraging example of 
duty performed calmly, bravely, and efficiently. 

The country has work for this Congress to do. The Congress- 



191 

man who can fiii(T no legislative work to perform, with advantage to 
the country, might, and ought, then, if the emergency presses, to have 
a musket in the ranks wliere his constituents serve, and wliere his 
personal influence would stir like a trumpet. But we would only 
advise this in the event that in the judgment of Congress the emer- 
gency becomes too great to admit the regular and proper discharge 
of legislative functions. 

As a senator well remarked: "This is a Congressional Govern- 
ment." The great controlling powers are invested in Congress ; and 
it is with regret, therefore, that we observe at this most important 
nincture of our affairs a movement already made to fix an early day 
for its adjournment. 



MA 7 19, 18 64. 

'•"What did you do under the reign of terror?" "I lived," 
replied Sieyes. "The only philosophical utterance of the period," 
says a fellow-academician. It was no little feat to live then ; it is 
no slight achievement to live now. Another series of battles, 
another array of hecatombs, another outburst of grief throughout 
the Confederacy, another occasion for self-congratulation to those 
whose duty did not call them to share the fate of the men whose 
carcasses fell in " The Wilderness." It will be a great thing to have 
lived through this struggle, provided the life has been such as the 
life ought to have been. If either of these conditions fail, unphilo- 
sophic as it may seem, it were better that the survivors of their 
liberty or their honor had failed in keeping their miserable souls 
and bodies together. It will be, in any event, a sad thing for any 
man that has a spark of native nobility in his soul to have crept 
through this war a witness but not a participant of the great agony; 
none but those who have fulfilled in their own persons the conditions 
of earthly happiness, " a bad heart and a good digestion," will be 
content in after times to say : The war cost me nothing: I lost no 
blood, I lost no sleep, I took mine ease, I watched the markets, I 
laid the foundation of an immense fortune. Pessimists tell us that 
all this will be forgotten ; that, in the third generation, the descend- 
ants of the blockade-runner, the quartermaster and the hospital 
steward will be the magnates of the land, and that the children of 
the men who fought for our independence will hold but a poor posi- 
tion. We hope not. The bitter memories of this war will not die 
out so easily. The roll of honor will not fade away so soon. The 
heritage of shame or of glory shall indeed be a heritage. Memory, 
vindictive or grateful, shall keep alive the deeds and misdeeds of 
the men who have passed through the struggle ; and the best ad- 
vice which w^e can give to many sinners is, that they go and have 
themselves killed now, " while it is called to-day," as existence will 
hardly be tolerable to them at a future time. As "for the wretched 
Bouls of those who have lived thus far without infamy and without 
praise," their day of grace is not yet over, they are not yet within 



192 



the gates of the Inferno ; let them redeem themselves by some 
heroic effort, some great sacrifice, in this last stadium of the war. 



MA Y 2 0, 1 8 6 '1 . 

Hooker, Bm-nside, Meade ; anybody could keep a large army 
well in camp on the Rappahannock. From Grant another work is 
expected ; and, to do him justice, he has, up to this moment, evinced 
a strong alacrity for trying, at least, to perform that work. But we 
shall not either attempt to foresee the events of to-morrow, or calcu- 
late the chance or consequence which attend them. The problem 
of the campaign is fairly stated, and every day, every hour is work- 
ing it out so rapidly, that speculation as to the result seems, and is, 
superfluous. Scarcely is the editorial ink dry, Avhen a new telegram 
announces a new stage of the process, and the divination which 
ought to anticipate the end, comes halting in behind the announce- 
ment of some accomplished fact. The tnodus operandi of whale- 
fishing is simple enougli ; yet the most confident theorist would 
not venture to predict, in any particular case, whether the huge 
creature will get off* with the harpoon in his back, or upset the boat 
in his dying flurry, or run his hard head against the ship itself. 
Grant, like the whale, is no contemptible antagonist. We may 
believe him doomed : still he is dangerous. He has had the nerve to 
face the question with a directness which we find in no other North- 
ern general. His assumptions are wrong; but he does not shrink 
from the legitimate consequences of the first step in the j^rocess. 
He has not tumbled back in dismay, as Burnside did at Fredericks- 
burg; he has not lost his head, as did Hooker, at Chancellorsville. He 
has deliberately counted on " depletion," and a fearful depletion, 
too, — fearful to any man of less obstinacy and less selfishness. If he 
can effect, with every assault on our lines, not an equal, but a pro- 
portionate depletion of our ranks, then the satisfactory solution of 
the problem is, from his point of view, a mere question of arithme- 
tic ; a mere matter of time. He would coolly throw away a hundred 
thousand of his men, if, by that means, he could put fifty thousand 
of ours liors de combat. He believes that we are on our last legs, 
and, though those legs are sturdy and vivacious in the extreme, he 
thinks that certainly they are our last legs, and, once hamstrimg, 
good-night to the Southern Confederacy. He is mistaken, profoundly 
mistaken ; but this scientific fanaticism is exceedingly pertinacious. 
If a man is once convinced that he has squared the circle, rely 
upon it, that he will never retract. If a man fancies that perpetual 
motion may be made a reality, or that the philosopher's stone is 
something more than the fabled stone of Sisyphus, be sure thnt he 
will spend all his time, and waste all his substance in the endeavor 
to carry out his schemes. So Grant will not yield till he is fairly 
exhausted ; and he means more than most Yankee generals do by 
their bravado, when he declares that he will not recross the river 
while he has a man left. 



193 



MA T 2 4, 1864. 



The Northern journals certainly do keep up their game wonder- 
fully well. They persist to the last in the noisy lie, the flagrant 
imposture, the palpable sophism, the vulgar boast, demanded by their 
master at Washington with unabated vigor and pertinacity. On 
the news of this movement of General Lee towards the Junction, 
they will, of course, raise the yell of triumph louder than ever. The 
retreat of Lee ! The flight of the Confederates ! Have they not 
abandoned SpottsylvaniaCourt-House ? Is not the Junction twenty 
miles nearer Richmond ? What an amount of gaseous nonsense and 
truculent blackguardism will be expended on these themes ! We 
suppose that people have sense in New York and London as else- 
where ; and it will be difficult to make them believe that the Con- 
federate army is flying, when it moves from a position which its 
adversary has abandoned, to place itself full before him across the 
new road on which he has determined to travel. 

When General Lee moves his army after a lost battle, for the 
purpose of getting away from his antagonist, because he finds him- 
self unable to maintain a struggle of brute force with him, he will 
have retreated. But if either party has done that, it is certainly 
Grant. Lee followed him from the Wilderness ; he is now the last 
to move, and is pursuer, not pursued, from Spottsylvania. It is true 
that by both movements these armies have been brought nearer to 
Richmond ; but for Lee, it was rendered necessary by the configu- 
ration of the soil and the lines of those rivers which he had resolved 
to defend — they have their sources remote from the city, approach 
it in their course, and empty their waters in the neighboring York. 
But for Grant it was choice. He is where he now is, because he 
could not pass over the road of his first and second selections. He 
might have come to Spottsylvania by travelling along the straight 
road from Washington to Fredericksburg, through Stafibrd, without 
firing a shot or losing a man. He might have arrived at Milford, 
from Port Royal, on the Rappahannock River, without the slaughter 
of his troops in the Wilderness or at the Court-House. He might 
have come still nearer — he might have come to the Piping Tree, 
within eleven miles of Richmond, without an engagement with 
General Lee. He might have come up the Peninsula, perhaps to 
Fair Oaks, and joined hands with Butler on the Southsicle, as some 
still expect him to do ; and this he will doubtless proclaim, in the end, 
to have been the object of all his circuitous route. By each of these 
ways of advance he would have brought General Lee from the Rapid 
Ann nearer to Richmond. He did not take them because there 
were dangers and defeats. He preferred the first and the second 
before the third, and this before the fourth. That he abandoned, 
after trial, the two first, is due to two clear defeats in battle. 

So far from losing ground, Lee has gained manifest advantages 
by each change of the lines. It is easier to defend that portion of 
his line which is near to Richmond, than that which was far removed 



194 

from it. He is far better situated now than at Spottsylvania Conrt- 
Ilouse, and that was better than the Wilderness. In either place, 
his stores and reinforcements had to come up from Richmond. No 
reflecting man can doubt that the general situation is very much 
improved since the day when Grant ci'ossed the Rapid Ann and 
Butler landed at Bermuda Hundreds. That was, indeed, a critical 
moment. The Confederate Government had been well warned of 
the concentration against Richmond. It was half convinced of its 
reality. But it was only half belief; an idea rather theoretical than 
practical. 

But the ship had an original strength sufficient to stand the 
the shock when it came. Lee's thin army beat the chief force of the 
enemy ; the second blow was deadened by the fortifications near 
Drewr}\ Every moment since has been gain to us. Time was all 
we wanted to bring up Beauregard from the siege of Charleston, 
and we got time. When he forced the enemy from his intrench- 
ments and reopened communications ; and when Lee had given a 
final answer to the question whether he was able to stand up against 
the full weight of Gi-ant; the chief danger, the danger of being 
crushed under the rush of an avalanche, ceased to exist. It is true, 
that the ehance of battle may yet, some day, fall against us ; but it is 
certainly far less probable now than then ; and, therefore, we think 
there is convincing solid reason to believe that the military situation 
at this moment is much more favorable to us than when Grant 
crossed the Rapid Ann. 



JUNE 2, 18 64. 

The Yankee nation is too sharp for us — impossible to escape the 
penetration of that smart people. They have found us out. By the 
capture of a " rebel mail," and perusal of the letters therein, they 
Lave at length been enabled to see how we fare in the Confederacy ; 
they can look into our meagre larders and see us sitting down to 
our daily meal. The revelation amuses them excessively, and no 
doubt encourages them too. Some of those unsuspecting corre- 
spondents, not writing per flag of truce boat, but speaking in the full 
confidence of privacy by this contraband mail, have even given their 
bills of fare : " One of the writers states that he piirchases break- 
fast as follows : one loaf of bread, one dollar ; four onions, two 
dollars ; one eg^g^ fifty cents ; total, three dollars and fifty cents ; 
and icith this meal he teas satisfied until the next day 1'^'' Our well- 
informed enemies, having intelligent spies in Richmond, have even 
discovered how very small tha!, same dollar loaf has become ; and 
can calculate by its rapid rate of shrinking in size, how soon it will 
arrive at about the dimensions of a pigeon's ^%2,. Their newspapers of 
the more jocular turn, have an infinity of little jokes upon this 
matter; and undoubtedly the Confederate baker coming to your 
door, and not giving the trouble of opening it, but just inserting the 
family's bread for the day through the keyhole, is at this moment 



195 

furnishinGC subjoots for the lively artists of New York pictorials. 
" One lady," writing also, it seems, through the contraband mail, 
"states that she could do without another dress if she could but get 
one pound of tea." No wonder this })icture of the Confederate 
table is exhilarating to those who have undertaken to " starve out 
the rebellion ;" because they can now ai)proximately detenninc 
about what time the four onions will come down to one, the og^:^ 
will disapjiear altogether, the whole family will be subsisting all 
day upon the one dollar loaf — Avhich can go through a keyhole — 
moistened M'ith water, — the spirit of the Confederate mother, brave 
as she is, will sink and break as she looks upon her delicately nur- 
tured children, to whom once she never denied a comfort or a 
delicacy, pining and whitening from day to day with the cruel 
hunger; until at last all hearts Avill turn with love and devotion to 
the " Old Flag," which symbolizes steaming kitchens and porter- 
house steaks. 

It is not surely, that our Northern brethren delight in human 
misery, or joy in the pangs even of hardened " rebels," when they 
dwell with satisfaction upon these things. But it has been their 
painful duty to convince us, by sore chastisement, that we can no 
more exist without the Union than without the boons of Nature and 
Providence — tliat in the Union alone we live, and move, and have 
our being — and that, if we Avould live and not die, we must pray to 
the Union, Give us each day our daily bread. We were to be 
taught that — as General Sherman says, — " it was not we who created 
the land ;" it was the Union that created it ; and the said Union is 
the supreme ruler and disposer of that land, with all that grows and 
lives thereon. Our teaching has been hard and stern, but they now 
hope it is nearly complete, if they know any thing of the human 
heart. Perhaps it is the human stomach they are thinking of — 
merely a mistake of one intestine for another. How much the 
stomach can digest, they probably do know, but what the heart of 
a man can dare and endure they have yet to learn. 

If it were, indeed, true, that we Confederates are suiFering the 
privations they announce, and if Yankee nature could understand 
the significance of the phenomenon, those philosophers would per- 
ceive that it is quite impossible to conquer a people who submit 
cheerfully to such trials for the sake of freedom ; that it must be 
because of our extreme need to be rid of them forever that we thus 
face death, in every form, slow or swift, on battle-field, in hospital, 
or in beggared and desolate homes. If they could but understand 
this, they would see something grand in our one poor meal a day. 
This is not their ideal of grandeur ; they would say, if it be grand to 
eat one meal a day, then to devour six meals a day is exactly six 
times as grand. What! are the rules of arithmetic, and "the 
whole greater than its part," to be subverted ? Is it not as certain 
that six pounds of pork are better than one pound of pork, as that 
twenty millions of people must conquer five millions ? There is no 
use in reasoning with such a people as this, and only one way of 
dealing with them. Be it known to them, however, that the atro- 



196 

cious calculation on wliicli they noAV carry on their " Avar," as they 
call it, upon women and children as well as fighting men, only 
makes us more thankful to God for having cut them oiF from our 
society for all time, and more resolute to fight them to the death. 
Our one meal shall dwindle to an infinitesimal dose — our daily 
allowance of bread shall not go through a keyhole, but pass through 
the eye of a needle, before we call them fellow-citizens, to say 
nothing of callins: them masters. 



JUNE 3, 1364. 

That wonderful dispatch to a Northern paper from the " Head- 
quarters in the Saddle," which we published yesterday, certainly 
shows a most cheerf\il buoyancy of disposition in the Yankee na- 
tion. Once more, as if nothing of the sort had ever happened 
before, it is announced that " On to Richmond is now the watch- 
word and reply." *' Whole army again in motion," as if it had 
never been in motion before ; and " By night we will be within four 
hours' march of Richmond ! " Why, they have been ere now within 
two hours' march of Kichmond, yet somehow failed to arrive there. 
Lee, also, the same dispatch afiirras, " is again out-generalled " — by 
that masterly movement, namely, from the Rapid Ann to the Pa- 
munkey, at a cost of seventy thousand men, which might have been 
accomplished without the loss of one. Nothing could be more cheery 
than the jolly strategy of this saddle-correspondent. He says play- 
fully, " Once getting Lee snugly ensconced in his works, away 
toe go around his flanks and into his rear." Capital fun ! 

Nor is it the saddle-correspondent alone who is so jovial. Secre- 
tary Stanton also announces a dispatch from Grant, " that every thing 
comes on finely ; " and another dispatch from Washington says, 
"There are the best possible spirits to-night in ofticial circles." 
Those most mercurial and irrepressible ofiicial circles were in just 
as high spirits on the same night gone two years ago. Then, also, 
On to Michmond was the watchword and reply ; and the yet un- 
conquered Young Napoleon had reached, Avithout the slaughter of 
seA' enty thousand of his troops, a position quite as close to his " pre- 
destined prey." It is noAV announced, and received doubtless with 
jubilation throughout all the North, that " every cannon fired the 
last week has been heard in Richmond ; " as if Richmond had never 
heard any cannon before. Marvellous, indeed, is that Yankee mind. 
Crush it to the earth a dozen times — sink it over and over in the 
very depths of despondency, still it springs up again as merry as 
ever, singing out, Who's afraid ? Victory is in our grasp at last ! 
Once this, or once that, point gained, and " axcay we go ! " 

One would almost begin to fancy that the enemy is really per- 
suaded, this time, that he is indeed on the eve of the capture of 
Richmond, but for the one trifling circumstance that gold has risen 
to one hundred and eighty-eight. This proves to our mind that those 
at the North who know best, and have the most immediate interest 
in the matter, do not believe that the Yankee army is ever to come 



197 

on to Richmond at all : — which is alsodecideclly the opinion of Rich- 
mond herself. If those highly excited official circles of Washington 
and delighted newspaper readers of New York and Boston could 
but see the tranquil serenity of these embowered streets at this day 
— how peacefully our people go about their daily business; how 
quietly they buy and sell, or even marry and are given in marriage, 
as in the day when Noe entered into tlie ark. It is true they know 
that a mighty power has gathered countless hosts around this place 
commissioned to raze it utterly and leave not one stone upon another : 
true, they know that accurate plans of the " Doomed City," multi- 
plied by the himdred thousand, point out this very moment every 
approach to their peaceful homes, and indicate each most advanta- 
geous method of crushing, sacking and burning the place, drenching 
these leafy shades with blood, and strewing them with mangled bones 
and spattered brains. True, also, that they feel in their souls how 
much more blessed on that day of doom, if it should ever dawn 
upon them, would be the mangled dead thim the landless, houseless 
living ; they do hear every day — the Yankee acoustics are correct — 
the roar of cannon flaming in front and flank of that enormous host, 
advancing " with a celerity never known before ; " they are well 
aware that this very night, before the stars shine out — if only one 
obstacle were removed — there might be a hundred thousand brigands 
in blue swarming in every street, rampant in every house, until the 
work of slaughter and raj)ine were done ; and then, in a pyramid of 
fire, the city of their pride and love would rush skyward, with all 
its pleasant dwellings, with the hearths at which its old people have 
sat and the ci'adles in which its children have been rocked. Its 
murmuring river, reddened with flame and. blood, would flow here- 
after past mounds of gore-clotted cinders, which should stand for 
generations a monument of Yankee vengeance. Yes, the}'' know all 
this ; yet to-night they will lie down peacefully to rest, trusting in 
Providence that the morning sun will shine as serenely into their 
windows, through the whispering trees, as on any morning of the 
last hundred years. 

It is not that our people are boastful, or presumptuous, or uncon- 
scious of danger, or insensible to the unutterable evils and curses 
which would come in a moment upon them and theirs in case of the 
enemy's success. They know well that the fortime of battle is 
doubtful, and that each instant of time may bring on the great 
arbitrament. But they are not demonstrative, nor by any means 
histrionic. The roll of the great artillery is in their ears ; but they 
only set their teeth within closed lips : — they have done all they can ; 
they have sent forth their bravest and their dearest to stem that roar- 
ing tide of fell foes, and can but await the awards of a just God in 
Heaven They feel, too, in every fibre of their hearts, that, in the very 
best event which can befall, many a gallant gentleman will lie low in 
the dust, whose single life could not be paid by a thousand of the base 
rabble-rout he holds at bay. Yet, after all, it is felt that this Rich- 
mond is our city ; and that no living creature must be permitted to en- 
ter it against our will — and that if an enemy do come in, it cannot be 



198 

save over our dead bodies ; and that now, even as in old times, it 
is honorable and even deligljtful, (both dulce and decorum)^ to die 
for our country. 

What a contrast is this we have sketched between the spirit and 
attitude of the two people now in presence upon this soil ! The one 
race crazy with greediness, and intoxicated with a sense of brute 
power in their numbers and material resourc'?s, furiously striving to 
crush out of existence a people who have never wronged them, and 
exulting with loud, senseless glee in the near approacli of the day 
that will crown with success the foulest national crime in history: — 
on the other side, a community of high-spirited freemen, seeking 
nothing in the world that is not theirs, doing and aiming to do 
neither hurt nor harm to any fellow-creature, standing up in defence 
of their own hearths and homes, sternly silent in the simple might 
of their own manhood, with the antique heroism that in all ages 
have impelled brave men to endure and dare all things for country 
and honor. Looking upon which contrast, and deeply penetrated 
with its significance, let every man say with all his heart, May God 
defend the Right ! 



JUNE 4, 18 64. 

One of the greatest compliments that the Yankees can pay us 
is their thankfulness for the small favors which they receive at our 
hands. Of course, a real success makes them delirious, but any kind 
of success is welcome. A hay-stack reduced, a corn-bin shelled out, 
a water-tank forced to evacuate, a pig-sty compelled to surrender 
unconditionally, a few yards of railway routed, the centre of abridge 
broken, libraries gutted, plate-boxes emptied, furniture ground into 
its ultimate atoms ; any kind, every kind of devastation and plunder ; 
any thing, everything, seems as a matter of rejoicing, as a theme for 
future Thanksgiving Dinner orations. However, these are exploits 
more to the taste of the genuine Yankee than the rude work of 
actual combat, and we do them wrong in depreciating the achieve- 
ments, which, of all others, they will remember with most satisfac- 
tion in after years. And well they may ; for, besides stolen spoons, 
pilfered pictures, and confiscated books, they will have little to show 
in their own country for the oceans of blood and the mint of money 
which they have lavished on their grand speculation, their great 
South Land Bubble ; and they will hardly choose to come to our 
blood-stained soil, to our desolated fields, in order to revive the 
memories of Manassas and Chickahominy, of the Wilderness and 
the Southside. 

Yet this same Southside has been the scene of one of those infin- 
itesimal successes which the Yankee calculus has enabled them to 
comprehend — one of those trifling favors for which the grateful heart 
of Yankeedom overflows with thankfulness. Heartily rejoiced at 
his own escape from danger (for whenever Confederates are in the 
neighborhood there is danger), the Yankee reporter of the memora- 



199 

ble affair of that memorable Monday, puts a fresh wit into liis patent 
pen-holiler, and jiroceeds to sum up the Federal gains and the Con- 
federate losses. •■' Our gains are the developing the enemy's strength 
in our front, and compelling him to retain a large army in a position 
of little value in the real struggle." To the latter clause we are 
constrained to demur. Compelling a large Confederate army to 
remain in a position of little value is a feat which neither J>utler nor 
Grant will be able to perform, so long as Beauregard and Lee are 
in actual command of our armies. That gain is altogether visionary 
— an Alnaschar day-dream. But to the first gain we have nothing 
to say ; we hang our heads abashed, " veil our proud stomachs," 
and acknowledge with shame and confusion of face, that it is even 
so. Nay, we Avill go further, and admit that this same kind of suc- 
cess has attended the Yankees with remarkable uniformity during 
the whole war ; that most of their gains have consisted in developing 
our strength in their front, and that from the time they cracked 
their skulls against the Stonewall brigade at Manassas, down to the 
last chapter of this eventful history, we have persisted in making the 
same blunder, and giving the Yankees the same advantage. After 
all the lessons which Lee has received, he, too, seems to be no wiser 
than Beauregard; he, too, is incorrigible — wherever Grant goes, 
across the Rapid Ann, across the North Anna, across the Paraunkey, 
he has the same great strategic success over his rebel rival ; he still 
develops our strength in his front, and we are very much mistaken 
if the war does not end with the key-note which was sounded in the 
beginning. 

What a result ! Tens of thousands of lives sacrificed ; hundreds 
of thousands of bodies maimed ; millions reduced to poverty, over- 
shadowed by sorrow, blackened by crime. Liberty, national credit, 
national honor, nay, every thing that distinguishes a nation from a 
band of robbers, a gang of galley-slaves, a den of harlots, every 
thing that is worth living for, gone. And all for what ? To 
satisfy themselves that we intended to resist them stoutly, to resist 
them to the death, or, in military language, in order "to develop 
the enemy's strength in our front," Keep at it if you think it worth 
the while. In good time we will ourselves develop our strength in 
your rear. 



J UNE 7,1864, 

Shortly after the Confederate Government was removed to 
Richmond, a bill was attempted in the Provisional Congress, to give 
the President a large sum, covering the expense of transporting his 
horses all the way from 3Iississippi in box-cars. This proposed ap- 
proprLition of the public money was defeated by the fearless patriot- 
ism of another Davis, now, we believe, no longer a member of 
Congress, But the idea has not been forgotten ; and, in this agony 
of the nation, a "joint resolution " suddenly sprouts up, and is whirled 
through the House with incredible alacrity, giving additional com- 



200 

pensation and emolument to this functionary, under the name of 
"lights an J fuel for the Presidential mansion," and forage in the 
Presidential stables for four horses during the war. 

The joint resolution of Congress strikes in the teeth of the Con- 
federate Constitution, which expressly stipulates that the President 
shall receive a compensation lohich shall neither he increased nor 
diminished during the period for which he has been elected. It is 
enough to declare that fact, as it is to state that two and two make 
four — it would be as foolish to argue the truth of one proposition 
as of the other. But the " President cannot live on his salary." 
Then let him resign, and live as other people do, without it. He has 
the best house in Richmond, furnished, and twenty-five thousand a 
year. If he cannot live on ihat, who can live in the Southern Con- 
federacy ? It is also said that similar "helps" were given to the 
President of the United States under the old Government. So they 
were, and it was the unspeakable corruption and villainy which came 
of this and other not more lawless expenditures of the nation's 
money, which overthrew the old Government. We make this war 
to get rid of the precedents and practices of the old Government. 
Would to God we might also get rid of all the detestable politicians, 
who made, by slow degrees and many such precedents as this, all 
that corruption and all this war ! It is said that this is a " smcdl 
matter f that opposition to it is faction, &c. But we say, obsta 
PRiNciPiis — resist evil while it is small and can be resisted. If this 
small end of the wedge gets in, all the rest follows easily. It will 
become a precedent for another like it, and that for many others. 
If Congress can give the President this, it can give him millions. 
To-day one thing, to-morrow another ; and who will stand up and 
draw on himself all the disfavor and evil turnings, all the malice and 
revenge of an Executive incumbent, by raising his voice in opposition 
to bills in which so powerful a functionary is personally interested ? 
If a thing so " small" cannot be resisted, how shall its sequel be 
prevented ? Here is a door w^hich opens on the universe of corruption. 



JU:SE 8, 18.64. 

In the war-chariot of old there were no supernumeraries ; the 
driver and the fighter, and no more. We want no supernumeraries 
now — no men to act as a dead weight on our bloody progress 
through the ranks of a besieging foe, to be paraded hereafter in the 
triumphal chariot as the heroes of a contest which they only served 
to complicate, of a victory which they only helped to retard. 

If the Southern community realized the fact that Bragg had his 
hand on the reins, a loud and stern protest would rise from every 
quarter of the land ; a protest so loud and so stern that it would be 
impossible for the deafest ear not to hear, or the stiffest neck to keep 
from bending. As it is, everybody is dissatisfied with the provision 
which the President has thought fit to make for his favorites. Will 



201 

notliing serve but to have these unlucky men in Richmoml ? The 
Ciitholic Cliureh has bishops in 2Kirtlbus infidelium — bishops who 
never administer tlie rites of their religion to the soul of their cure; 
who never even behold the dioceses from which they derive their 
titles. Nova Zembla is too cold, Tirabuctoo is too hot, the Cochin 
Chinese are too obstreperous, the Feejeeans too partial to the per- 
sons of their visitors. Why cannot we have generals in j^drtlbus f 
Is there no outlying territory, which we can claim, and only claim ? 
Is not Delaware a Southern State ? Does not Ohio belong to Vir- 
ginia? Let us erect two departments of this sort — departments in 
which there is nothing to do, or, still better, in which nothing can 
possibly be done, and let us give them incontinently in charge to 
these men, with their li^ad-quarters at some Fiddler's Green or 
Fool's Paradise. True,-^e cannot Very well afford sinecures in our 
present circumstances, but we can still less afford to jiave two birds 
of ill omen haunting our capital at a time like this,'Vhen the pres- 
sure from without is so great that it is silly, nay, criminal, to do any 
thing that might have the least tendency to dampen the spirits of 
those who stand between the city and the foe, or to weigh down the 
buoyant hope of those whose all is entrusted to the keeping of such 
brave defenders. As we have ^nid, time after time, it is hardly 
worth while to argue the matter.' We believe Mr. Orr to be perfectly 
right in his estimate of General Bragg, and we hold that General 
Johnston's dispatches have fully demonstrated the calibre of Pem- 
berton. Others may not go as far as we do. Some may think that 
Bragg would make a tolerable brigadier, and Pemberton a fair cap- 
tain of artillery. But everybody outside of fluukeydom, dejdores 
or execrates, according to his temperament, the appointment of these 
men to service at this place and at this time — of all other time sand 
places. ^ The Yankees have bi'ought their great success of the West 
to cope with our great success of the East; they have brought Grant 
and his myrmidons to meet Lee of Arlington and his unconquei'ed 
veterans. We hope yet to make Grant deserve his nickname a sec- 
ond time, and in a different way, but we could not encourage our 
assailant and his army more than has been done, than by setting up 
in his front as kittles to be bowled down by slow balls or fast balls, 
whichever may seem best, such personages ^as Grant's old antago- 
nists of Lookout Mountain and Vicksburg. ^As-for the effect on our 
own men, it is doubtless true that the mass of the army cannot be- 
lieve that their glorious commanders are actually the subordinates 
of any jack-in-oiRce, and nothing except defeat could make them 
realize that they are following Bragg' and not Lee. And yet it 
would be better, far better, even for our army, if there were no such 
external position as exists at present, and beyond measure desirable 
for the citizens of our capital and State. An official dementi has 
been given to the report that General Bragg ordered the evacuation 
of Petersburg. Granted that the report was false, was it as wholly 
unfounded ? Put a man of known characteristics in any prominent 
position, and people will straightway begin to prophesy, and it can- 
not be said that their predictions are without foundation. The 
U 



202 

evacuation of Petersburg, like the recall of the general who whipped 
Sigel from the Valley of Virginia, would have been exceedingly- 
natural things for General Bragg, and we do not wonder at the re- 
ports. In these points he may have euifered injustice only by an- 
ticipation. However, such anticipations are a more grievous injury 
to our cause than any anticipations can be to General Bragg's 
character for generalship ; and we, in common with the rest of our 
countrymen, are more concerned for the salvation of the capital and 
the country than for the renown of any one man. ^ 

We are in no idle game. We fight not as men beating the air. 
We are driving the red battle car, and not a gilded coach, with 
room enough on the foot-board for uniformed chasseurs with mar- 
shal's batons. Cut behind ! We are driving artillery into the fight. 
Get ofi" the caissons ! And horses accustomed to the flash of steel, 
to the roll of drums, to the waving of banners and the peal of can- 
non, have been known to start and shy at unfamiliar objects. 



JULY 19, 1864. 

That Confederate force which lately visited Maryland, has 
returned to Virginia. It; has returned " safe ;" the enemy has 
remained safe : its " losses are slight ;" so are theirs. Three ties, 
however, of the railroad between Baltimore and Washington have 
been burnt near Beltsville. 

One house was certainly burnt in the course of the expedition ; 
let this comfort the tens of thousands of houseless Confederates 
whose homes have been destroyed by Yankee raiders ! It is allowed 
each of them to say, " It is for our house that Bradford's was burnt." 
This is retaliation, not by gross, but by sample ; not to hurt them, 
but, as it were, to bring home to their imaginations how they hurt 
others. 

To Confederate troops the duty of retaliation is hard and 
odious ; to retaliate every thing in kindm^ee^, would be altogether 
impossible for them ; and no orders could make them outrage 
women or insult old men. Neither woidd any Confederate ofticer 
bring the dresses of Yankee women home as "trophies;" nor would 
Virginia girls like to wear such spoils. Retaliation, however, was a real 
and urgent duty, and the most essential business which oiir troops 
had in the enemy's country, if they had any business there at all. 

If we reciir so often to this tiresome subject of the treatment 
which we should give to our enemies, it is because this is no mere 
collateral and incidental question connected with the operations of 
the war; it is the very root of the matter; the heart and core of it; 
our whole national duty is involved in it, and our whole national 
destiny. These States claim to be sovereign States, vindicating an 
ancient independence ; if our people are to be treated as rebels 
against their enemies, and thus visited with military execution, by 
fire and sword — and if we either cannot or will not, when we have 



203 

it in our OTvn power, pay slaughter with slaughter, pillage with pil- 
lage, conflagration with conflagration, then Ave fear that our doom 
is sealed. 



JUL Y 22, 1 864. 

It is not generally known that the Japanese have a Comrais- 
sioncr in this country, for the especial purpose of reporting the 
progress of the war and the improvements in military science. 
Through the extreme courtesy of his higlmcss Prince Dalgaku- 
Nokami, the Commissioner, we are permitted to lay before our 
readers the folloAving extracts (kindly translated for us) from a report 
recently forwarded by him to his Imperial Master. From it our 
friends will learn in what high estimation our afiairs are held 
by the Japanese officials : — 

From the Great City op Richmond, 
The Capital of the Powerful Republic 
OP the Southern Barbarians. 
To the Tycoon, the High and Mighty Sovereign of the Empire of Japan, the Brother 
of the Sun, Moon, and the Stars, before ivhose glory all earthly Princes hide their 
faces : — 

Sire : — Your Commissioner having been sent to this great country of the Bar- 
barians, charged by j'our Imperial Majesty with the duty of noting and reporting the 
events of the bloody war now being waged upon them by the powerful nation of 
Yankees, who dwell in the North, and live by tliieving and deceit, humbles himself 
in the dust as he prej^ares to lay before your Imperial Majesty the results of his 
observations. 

Your Commissioner, after encountering many difficulties and dangers by both 
sea and land, at last reached the great capital of the Barbarians. 

Here, Host no time in presenting my credentials to the Barbarian Government 
Speaking the language of the country but imperfectly, I was fearful that I would 
experience some difficulty in making known to the officials the mission with whicli I 
am charged. Fortunately, I was informed by an officer of great respectability that 
the Chief Mandarin, who controls the intercourse of the Republic with other nations, 
had in liis employ an official who could speak Japanese, and that he employed him 
some time since, in the hope tliat your Imperial Majesty would condescend to recog- 
nize the existence of his Government, when the official's abilities would prove 
useful. 

The next day after my arrival was appointed for my reception by the Mandarin, 
whom tlie Barbarians call Benjamin, iiccordingly I presented myself at tlie Palace 
of the official, which is a large, high building of white stone, containing many rooms, 
and was at once ushered into liis presence. The Mandarin, a sliort, fat man, with a 
profusion of gold ornaments, received me with great delight. Had I permitted him 
to do so, he would have gotten down on his knees and kissed my feet. This honor 
I respectfully but firmly declined — your Imperial Majesty being entitled to it. He 
pressed upon me from tlie beginning of tlie interview his extreme admiration for 
the empire of Japan and its institutions, and extolled the advantages which would 
arise from a treaty between your Imperial Majesty and the Barbarian ruler. He 
also urged me to endeavor to persuade your Imperial Majesty to recognize the ex- 
istence of his Government. He offered me every facility that it was in the power 
of his Government to bestow, and even went so far as to urge me to accept a posi- 
tion on the staff' of the Barbarian general on duty at the capital. This is a mark 
of great distinction — a similar offer being made to every foreigner who arrives in 
the South. All do not accept it, or the Barbarian commander might soon have con- 
nected with his person a force sufficiently large to enable him to take the field. I 



204 

•was compelled to decline the honor, having strict orders from my Imperial Master 
to take no part in the struggle. .-p 

The Mandarin impressed me greatly with his ability and dignity. I found him 
quick, intelligent, and tlioroughly versed in all the tricks of diplomacy. I at once 
savr from hi's countenance and bearing that he was not a countryman of the Bar- 
barians, and this at once accounted for his superiority to them. 1 am informed that 
he is a member of a sacred race in all Barbarian countries, a race noted for energy, 
honesty, ability, and patriotism. My interview with the Mandarin convinced me 
that the Barbarians are fortunate in possessing such a man. I would suggest to 
your Imperial Majesty the policy of allowing Jews a free entrance into Japan, and 
license to dwell therein. It would be the part of wisdom to cause your present 
Prime Minister to disembowel himself, and then to replace him with a Jew. 

From the hall in which the Mandarin received me I was led through a long pas- 
sage-way to another hall, and finally ushered into the presence of the Great Kuler 
of the Barl)arians. He would not allow me to salute him with any of the honor due 
to his august rank, but made me sit down in his presence, and offered me a small 
roll of tobacco, which is called a " cigar." This, though I understood it to be a 
great honor, I was forced to dechne, as the interpreter told me it would make me 
sick. I am at a loss to imagine why the Barbarian Tycoon should have wished to 
make me sick. I shall inquire into the matter. 

The natives of this country are passionately fond of cigars. I have been told 
that the best cigars are in the possession of the Tycoon and his chief Mandarin. 
Thev are smuggled into the country by men who make their living by disregarding 
the laws, and who send these cigars as presents to the Tycoon and his Mandarin, 
and who. by this means, are no longer violaters of the laws, but promoters of the 
pubhc good. Respectable persons have assured me that the country would scarcely 
defeat its enemies if these officials did not receive their cigars. It is an improve- 
ment in the science of government, for which the Barbarians deserve great credit. 

My interview with the Tycoon was highly satisfactory ; and, before I left his 
presence, I was convinced that of all Barbarians he is the greatest. He has suc- 
ceeded in exploding the old absurd notions that the people are the sources of power, 
and that rulers arebut their servants, and has shown them the true system of gov- 
ernment, which consists in disregarding their will and refusing to gratify their wishes. 
He is mild and gentle towards his enemies, but governs his people sternly and firmly. 
As a military leader he has no superiors. His early education, and liis position as 
commander of a regiment in a recent war, won him a reputation inferior to none. 
He has not been slow in manifesting his ability to control the military affairs of liis 
country, and the remarkable skill and genius with which he directed the events that 
culminated at two localities entitled "Vicksburg" and " Missionary Ridge," have 
placed him high iu the affections of his countrymen. In point of economy he is a 
shining example to his people. He fives in the plainest, simplest style, and is care- 
ful to do all in his power to decrease the burdens of his country. Sometime ago, a 
party of men, whose business it is to make laws, endeavored to force upon him a 
quantity of golden coins; but he indignantly and patriotically refused to accept the 
present, and administered a withering rebuke to all persons who were unwiUing to 
sacritice their personal ease to the good of the country. As a financier he stands 
unrivalled. The adoption of his views has caused money to be as plentiful in his 
country as leaves in the forest. His foresight is ^vTjnderful. At the beginning of 
his career he clearly foresaw the character of the present struggle, and at once took 
prompt, energetic measures to prepare for it. In his estimate of men he is never 
mistaken. Mandarin Benjamin, the Mandarin of the Treasury, and the new Com- 
manding General Bragg, who remains od duty at the seat of Government, all attest 
the correctness of his judgment. In all things he is a model ruler, and happy are 
the people whom he governs. 

********** 

After my interview with the Tycoon, I was conducted to the hall of the Manda- 
rin of the Treasury, whom the Barbarians call Memminger. My object in visiting 
liim was to gain information concerning the finances of the Barbarians. Their finan- 
cial system filled me with surprise aud delight. When the war began money was 
scarce, and consisted of gold, sUver, and copper coins. When the Government of 



205 

the T\'coon went into power, it was resolved to cast aside the plan of a few lialf- 
witted dreamers, who demanded that cotton, which is the great staple of this country, 
should bo made the basis of their currency. It was resolved to print pieces of 
paper, which would cost the Government less than would be required to buy cotton. 
Those pieces of paper wore declared to be money. Unlimited authority was given 
to the Mandarin of the Treasury to print them, and this official, prompted by a wise 
and patriotic benevolence, resolved to create such a vast amount of money that all 
his countrymen should grow rich. Not long since it became necessary to curtail 
the supply of paper money; and, in order to produce the desired scarcity, the law- 
Hiakers set to work and devised a tedious and complicated system, which was 
greatly simplified by the Mandarin of the Treasury. Instead of adopting the slow 
method ordered by the law-makers, he at once removed the department charged with 
the preparation of the money, to a distant city. This, for a time, suspended all 
work in that department ; and, subsequently, the Government having kindly allowed 
the enemy to interrupt the lines of communication over which the money must pass 
on its way to the capital, a scarcity was produced much sooner than was hoped by 
the law-makers. I would suggest to your Imperial Majesty the propriety of adopt- 
ing such a system of finance. I have been so much pleased wth it that I have de- 
termined to present to your Majesty a complete report upon the subject. 

I have been greatly assisted in my efforts to acquaint myself with the military 
system of the Barbarians, by the illustrious warrior who is now at the head of the 
armies of the Republic. Holding, as he does, the highest miUtary position in a 
country that has produced so many great soldiers, I naturally supposed that he must 
be the greatest of them aU. I was not mistaken. He at an early day gave evidence 
of the highest military genius. Unfortunately, the positions in which he was placed 
did not allow him to exhibit this quality. The Tycoon, of whose remarkable pene- 
tration I have already spoken, alone discovered the hidden gem in him; and, as soon 
as the great soldier had succeeded in turning over to his adversary the barren and 
worthless spot entitled "Missionary Ridge," already mentioned, he was rewarded 
with the higliest gift the Tj'coon had it in his power to bestow. Here I noticed a de- 
cided improvement upon the old ideas of generalship. To be a great general, and 
to command the admiration of one's rulers, it is necessary to give universal dissatis- 
faction to the people, and an equal degree of satisfaction to the enemy. * * * * 
The manner of conducting military operations excites my surprise and admiration. 
The troops are forced into the ranks of the army, and only the old men and the 
women and children are left at home. These are necessarily unprotected; and, in 
order to produce a good effect upon the troops, they are allowed to remain so. The 
Government then leaves open a way by which mounted parties of the enemy are 
enabled to penetrate to the interior. These parties burn houses, ravish women, 
murder old men and children, steal property of every description, and devastate the 
country. These things, though horrible in themselves, exercise a most beneficial 
effect upon the army and the country. They produce an intenser hatred of the 
enemy on the part of the people, and cause the troops to fight more desperately in 
battle. They also make them more willing to remain in the field, for men without 
homes are content to stay where they are provided for. 

Should your Imperial Majesty desire, in times of war, to increase the efficiency 
of your troops, you have only to allow a band of your enemies to ravage and destroy 
their homes, murder their fathers, and outrage their wives, mothers, sisters, and 
daughters. The men who perform such deeds are called by the Barbarians " Raid- 
ers," and are treated with the highest consideration. Occasionally, some of them 
are taken prisoners. Instantly a few ignorant persons demand that the captives 
shall be put to death. At once the Tycoon takes the " Raiders " under his protec- 
tion, treats them with the greatest kindness, and, as soon as possible, sends tl:iem 
back to their own country. The wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by 
the sequel. The " Raiders," grateful for the kindness shown them, as soon as 
they regain their liberty, visit some other section of the country, and burn, plunder, 
ravish, and kill as before. Thus, your Imperial Majesty will see the efficiency of 
the troops is always preserved, and the people effectually prevented from tlunking 
kindly of their enemies. A war spirit is constantly maintained. This course is a 



206 

great improvement upon the old system, under which the " Raiders " would have 
been shot or hung as soon as captured ; and its advantages are so clear to every 
one, that I doubt not your Imperial Majesty will not hesitate to adopt it as soon as 
possible. 

There are many persons among the Barbarians who violently oppose the con- 
duct of the Tycoon; but they are bad and- unpatriotic men, who are unv/illing to 
lose their all that the Tycoon may have an opportunity of exhibiting his wonderful 
humanity, which is, indeed, the most remarkable ever exhibited by any earthly 
ruler. Nevertheless he has his reward. The people love him devotedly, for they 
feel that he has thrown around them the most ample protection, and will not hesi- 
tate to dare any thing to promote their safety. 



The Mandarin who has charge of the shipping showed me many attentions. 
The Barbarians have invented a new species of war steamer, which is plated with 
iron and is very formidable. These steamers cost immense sums of money and re- 
quire many months in their construction. They are rarely used in actual conflict 
with \^e enemy. They are allowed to remain untouched for awhile, but are eventu- 
ally blown up by their commanders. *rhe Mandarin assured me that by destroying 
them thus the Barbarians impress their enemies with a sense of their desperation, 
and that each such destruction is equal to a victory. It also precludes all possibility 
of any Barbarian commander being forced to endure the humiliation of surrendering 
his vessel to an enemy. Should your Imperial Majesty desire to receive instruction 
in this new system, the Mandarin informed me that he is willing to order to Japan 
any or all of the ofiScers who have thus distinguished themselves, and I am confi- 
dent the people of this country would be delighted if such an arrangement could be 
efiTected. 



Deserters from the enemy are encouraged to come in by being given employment 
in factories, arsenals, and workshops belonging to the Governmeut. The natives 
of the country find it difiScult to procure work of any description from the Govern- 
ment, but any one who has been connected with the enemy finds no difSculty in 
procuring such work as he may desire. This is a wise system and its advantages 
are every day seen ; the Government constantly reaping great benefits from it in 
the satisfaction it affords the people and army. 



Not long since the law-makers of the Barbarians enacted a law prohibiting, 
under severe penalties, any person from buying or selling "greenbacks," as the 
paper-money of the enemy is called. The Government of the Tycoon having use 
for the money of their enemies, set aside the law and appointed a class of men call- 
ed " bi okers," to act as agents for the purchase of the desired amount. Should your 
Imperial Majesty find it necessary or convenient to violate any of the laws of Japan, 
you will do well to employ a "broker " as your agent, for you may then violate the 
law with impunity and even with an appearance of innocence. 



From what I have thus humbly and submissively laid before your Imperial 
Majesty, you will see that the Barbarians deserve great praise for their enlighten- 
ment and improvement in every thing attempted by them. They have given to the 
world many useful lessons by which it would do well to profit. 

I shall forward to your Imperial Majesty another and a more detailed report at 
the'earliest possible period. 

"With the prayer that your Imperial Majesty may live and reign prosperously 
for many years, I subscribe myself 

Your Majesty's most faithful subject and slave, 

Dalgaku-Nokami, 

Prince of Suruga. 



207 
JULY 2 6,1864. 

For the first time we have the pleasure of heartily approving a 
State-paper of Abraham Lincoln. It is his letter addressed " To 
whom it may Concern." It concerns Messrs. Holcombe, C. C. Clay, 
and George JST. Sanders, and, we would fondly believe, no other per- 
son or persons whomsoever. When officious individuals go creep- 
ing round by back-doors, asking interviews with Lincoln for "a full 
interchange of sentiments," it gives us sincere gratification to see 
them spurned, yes, kicked, from the said back-door. To Abraham 
we deliberately say. Bravo ! or, if he likes it better. Bully ! Think 
of an ex-Senator from Alabama and a Virginian member of Con- 
gress — for we say nothing of the third " negotiator " — exposing 
themselves gratuitously, idly, and unbidden, to receive such an igno- 
minious rebuff at the hands of the truculent buffoon of Illinois. 

The eccentric procedure of these two gentlemen has all the air 
of a device of the ingenious Sanders. He it was who, finding Mr. 
Clay and Mr. Holcombe travelling in Canada for their health, and 
sojourning at the Clifton House, bethought him of getting them into 
a correspondence about peace, and it was he who opened it himself 
by a letter to no less a person than Horace Greeley — asking him 
(Greeley) to procure a safe-conduct for the pai'ty to Washington, 
and thence to Richmond. It appears that Greeley, at first thinking 
this was a real embassy to oflEer submission, eagerly promised the 
safe-conduct in the President's name. They replied that they were 
not exactly and altogether plenipotentiaries; but had no doubt that, 
"if the circumstances disclosed in the correspondence" were com- 
municated to Richmond, they, or somebody else, would be invested 
with full powers. And what were the circumstances disclosed? 
We learn this from a long letter of Messrs. Clay and Holcombe, 
written after their repulse; the circumstance disclosed was nothing 
in the world except Greeley's unauthorized offer of a safe-conduct. 
They say — and, in reading what they say, remember that it is two 
eminent Confederate gentlemen addressing a paltry abolitionist 
editor, not having the presumption to write to the Emperor Abra- 
ham himself — " exacting no condition but that we should be duly 
accredited from Richmond, as bearers of propositions lookiug to the 
establishment of peace, thus proposing a basis for a conference as 
comprehensive as we could desire, it seemed to us that the President 
ojieued a door which had previously been closed against the Confed- 
erate States, for a full interchange of sentiments, a free discussion of 
conflicting opinions, and an untrammelled effort to remove all causes 
of controversy by liberal cfSgotiations." What right had they to 
even allude to " propositions looking to the establishment of peace ?" 
Who commissioned them to " interchange sentiments " with Lincoln? 
And what do they mean by causes of controversy and liberal nego- 
tiations ? If these officious gentlemen had been received at Wash- 
ington, and had been accredited from Richmond, we should have 
felt very nervous on the subject of those liberal negotiations. How- 
ever, Lincoln, so soon as he was informed that there were such 



208 

people poking about that back-door, surmising that it was now partly 
open though " previously closed," and parleying with a New York 
editor in the hope of getting admittance, — shut up the door with a 
bang, right in their three noses, and warned them off by a notice 
*'To whom it may Concern." 

It is suggested that perhaps the cunning device of Mi\ Sanders 
was only a contrivance for helping the peace-party in the enemy's 
country ; that the answer of Mr. Lincoln was just the very kind of 
answer which the "many-counselled" George expected; and that 
it is to be used for the purpose of proving how ferociously and un- 
relentingly the present Yankee Administration is bent on war, and 
repulses the slightest hint of peace. As usual with such excessively 
cunning schemes, this one not only defeats itself, but helps the cause 
which it was, possibly, intended to damage. To exhibit an ex- 
Senator and member of Congress of the Confederate States thus 
timidly crawling by a roundabout way to the footstool of the em- 
peror of the Yahoos, whining and snivelling about peace and "liberal 
negotiations," and haughtily I'efused admittance even to the sover- 
eign presence, will serve not the peace, but the war, party ; because 
it will be used to create the impi-ession that the Confederacy must 
be in the agonies of death when two distinguished legislators make 
so pitiful an attempt to reach the ear of offended majesty. If such 
was the idea, then, in this case, as in the other, " those whom it may 
concern " have got what they deserve. 

Has any one seen " the Reverend Colonel Jacques " and one 
Edward Kirk. What are the detectives about ? Here have been 
two spies, manifestly spies, "at the Spottswood Hotel, Richmond, on 
a secret mission ;" and now, instead of being in Castle Thunder, 
Kirk and the Rev. Colonel are again in their own country, giving 
mysterious hints to the Washington correspondents about their three 
days' elegant entertainment in Richmond, and about " two inter- 
views " which they say they had with Mr. Davis. They cannot dis- 
close, " for the present," — those deep diplomats — what passed at 
those interviews ; but " it is intimated," and here is truly a startling 
fact — " that Mr. Davis would consent to nothing short of recogni- 
tion of the Southern Confederacy." Of course these two Yankees 
were spies ; or else they wanted to sell something in Richmond which 
they had rim through the lines ; or probably they combined the two 
objects. Gur passport system, we fear, affords us but little pro- 
tection ; and the detectives are not sufficiently vigilant. 

Howsoever that may be, there is noAv certainly a renewal of 
those vague whisperings of peace which- have several times before 
circulated through society. Many think that peace is in the air. 
Peace, and rumors of peace, float around us ; and men dream of 
peace at night. We have seen how unauthorized and officious 
persons, both Yankee and Confederate, repair respectively North 
and South about the same moment, as it were snuffing peace as 
horses snuff water in the desert. If gold declines a little in New 
York, even in the teeth of military disaster, a newspaper says it is 
because there is a kind of instinctive feeling that we are on the eve 



209 

of peace. This is not unnatural : the plain avowals of the enemy's 
press, four mouths ago, that this year's campaign must be the final 
one, — the near end of Lincoln's bloody term — the financial crisis 
imminent in the United States — all combine to produce not so much 
a conviction as a presentiment that we are soon to have peace. 

And it may be so. Peace may be nearer to us than we think, 
and may come suddenly, though one cannot see precisely how. 
One thing, however, is clear, — so desirable an CA'ent cannot be 
hastened by amateur negotiators, "exchanging sentiments" with 
Mr. Lincoln ; nor by blockade-runners, thrusting " interviews" upon 
Mr. Davis; nor by any possible or conceivable correspondence 
between George Sanders and Horace Greeley. 



A UGUST 2, 1864. 

Mr. Davis, in conversation with a Yankee spy, named Edward 
Kirk, is reported by said spy to have said, " We are not fighting 
for slavery ; we are fighting for independence." This is true ; and 
is a truth that has not sufficiently been dwelt upon. It w^ould have 
been very much to be desired that this functionary had developed 
the idea in some message, or some other State paper, which Avould 
ha¥e carried it round the world, and repeated it in all languages of 
civilized nations, instead of leaving it to be promiiTgated through the 
doubtiul report of an impudent blockade-runner, who ought to have 
been put in Castle Thunder. The sentiment is true, and should be 
publicly uttered and kept conspicuously in view ; because our enemies 
have diligently labored to make all mankind believe that the people of 
these States have set up a pretended State sovereignty, and based 
themselves upon that ostensibly, while their real object has been 
only to preserve to themselves the property in so many negroes, 
worth so many millions of dollars. The direct reverse is the truth. 
The question of slavery is only one of the minor issues ; and the cause 
of the war, the whole cause, on our part, is the maintenance of the 
sovereign independence of these States. 

At the beginning of the struggle, and even now, to a great ex- 
tent, our enemies had, and have, the ear of the world ; and they 
have very dexterously labored to represent us as rushing into a 
dreadful war on a paltry <juestion of dollars. In the crusade they 
were about to make upon us, they have shown the utmost solici- 
tude to gain for themselves, in advance, the sympathies of foreign 
nations, especially of England and France ; and, of course, their 
chief means of gaining this point, consisted in representing that we 
had no higher or nobler cause to fight for than the possession of a 
certain quantity of serviceable negro flesh. Thus they knew that 
not only all the prevailing cants would be canted on their side, but 
also that a war waged to break up a free and beneficent government 
upon such a mean issue, would revolt all statesmen, publicists, and 
thinkers of high mark in every country, who have the true sentiment 



210 

of national dignity, and can appreciate the loftier and purer springs 
of human actions on the grand scale. The Yankee knew he might 
boldly claim the good wishes of civilized communities, so long as he 
could make it be believed that the only thought and care of the 
South was that she might keep still on her plantations so many slave 
hands, raising each year bales per hand. 

The whole cause of our resistance was and is, the pretension and 
full determination of the Northern States to use their preponder- 
ance in the Federal representation, in order to govern the Southern 
States for their profit, just as Austria governs Venetia, Russia gov- 
erns Poland, or England governs Ireland. Slavery was the immedi- 
ate occasion — carefully made so by them — it was not the cause. The 
tarilF, 'which almost brought about the disruption some years ago, 
would have much more accurately represented, though it did not 
cover, or exhaust, the real cause of the quarrel. Yet neither tariffs nor 
slavery, nor both together, could ever have been triily called the 
cause of the secession and the war. We refuse to accept for a cause 
any thing lower, meaner, smaller, than that truly announced, namely, 
the sovereign independence of our States. This, indeed, includes 
both those minor questions, as well as many others yet graver and 
higher. It includes full power to regulate our trade for our own 
profit, and also complete jurisdiction over our own social and do- 
mestic institutions ; but it farther involves all the nobler attributes 
of national, and even of individual life and character. A community 
which onoe submits to be schooled, dictated to, legislated for, "by 
any other, soon grows poor in spirit ; it becomes at last incapable 
of producing a high style of men : its very soul withers within in 
it : in it no genius, no art, can have its home. If they arise within 
its borders, they migrate to the dominant country, and seek there 
their career and their reward : its citizens, become a kind of half- 
men, feel that they have hardly a right to walk in the sun ; take 
the lowest seats at the world's tables, and there is no man to say, 
Friend, go up higher. 

And the people of Virginia do not choose to accept that position 
for themselves and for their children. They choose rather to die. 
They own a noble country, which their fathers created, exalted, and 
transmitted to them with all its treasures of high names and great 
deeds ; with all its native wealth of untamable manhood. That in- 
heritance we intend to own while we live, and leave intact to those 
who are to come after us. It is ours from the centre of the earth up to 
the heavens, with all the minerals beneath it, and all the sky above it. 

It is right to let foreign nations, and " those whom it may con- 
cern," understand this theory of our independence. Let them un- 
derstand that, though we are " not fighting for slavery," we will 
not allow ourselves to be dictated to in regard to slavery or any 
other of our internal affairs, not because that would diminish our 
interest in any property, but because it touches our independence. 



211 

SEPTEMBER 5, 1864. 

So much for the third removal of General Johnston. First, he 
was virtually removed by being deprived of power to direct his 
lieutenant, Pemberton ; and the cost of that gratification to the feel- 
ings of Mr. Davis was the army of Vicksburg. Next, he was super- 
se'fled by Bragg ; and the organization of the second army was 
destroyed at Missionary Ridge. Thirdly, after restoring it, he was 
removed at the very moment when his knowledge, skill and energy 
were indispensable to the success and even to the safety of the cam- 
paign ; superseded by Hood, a commander of division, notoriously 
incapable of managing any thing larger than a division. The result 
is disaster at Atlanta, in the very nick of time when such a victory 
alone could save the ])arty of Lincoln from irretrievable ruin. 

General Johnston is thought over-cautious ; too reticent about his 
plans ; disposed to be mysterious as to approaching events. He 
was removed because " he did not speak with entire confidence 
about holding Atlanta." But results prove that if he was cautious 
in tnovement, and chary of promises, it was for good reasons. It is 
evident that, in each case, he knew where he was, what material he 
had in hand, and the best use to make of it. Whatever else may be 
said, it cannot be said that he ever lost an army, or any considera- 
ble body of troops, or incurred any disaster, or even disadvantage, 
that obscured our prospects for a moment. If any man has been so 
great a fool as to question his military capacity, his courage, or his 
earnest patriotism, certainly these events vindicate him. But alas ! 
of what interest is that? of what importance is that? of what 
consideration is a single reputation, if the country must be lost to 
justify it ? Who cares now whether Johnston was right, or Jeff. 
Davis was right ? 

Yet we must think of these things, for these are the causes which 
produce the effects. It is manifestly absurd to put up and pull 
down a commander in the field according to the crude views or 
peevish fancies of a functionary in Richmond. Such conduct of 
Government would paralyze the greatest military genius, ruin the 
oldest army, and render success in war absolutely impossible. Now, 
is it not hard, is it not cruelly hard, that the struggle of eight mil- 
lions, who sacrifice their lives, sacrifice their money, who groan 
in the excess of exertion, who wrench every muscle till the blood 
starts v/ith the sweat — should come to naught — should end in the 
ruin of us all — in order that the predilections and antipathies, the 
pitiful personal feelings, of a single man may be indulged? 

With the scanty information at hand it is impossible to estimatei 
the late affair in Georgia. It is certain that Atlanta has been aban- 
doned by our troops. We do not know whether the guns were 
left or not. The loss of the place is otherwise without material im- 
portance. As a military post it had no value whatever. It was 
once important as the junction of railroads, but has ceased to be so 
since the railroads to the North were lost. Sherman could not hold 
it a week if the Confederate army in the neighborhood was in proper 



212 

hands. But the moral effect of its loss, though it may be temporary, 
will be great. It will render incalculable assistance to the party of 
Lincoln, and obscures the prospect of peace, late so bright. It may 
enable him to execute his draft. It will also diffuse gloom over the 
South. This depression, however, may be speedily relieved, if the 
administration has a grain of real sense or a spark of unselfish pa- 
triotism. The reinstatement of Johnston, or the appointment of 
Beauregard, would at once restore the confidence of the country and 
of the army ; and the genius of either would soon prove Sherman's 
advantage to be an illusion and an abortion. But the confidence 
either of the country or the army will scarcely survive the continua- 
tion of Hood in command, still less the reappearance of Bragg. It 
is easy to see the path of wisdom now ; but it is difficult still to 
hope any thing wise, or magnanimous, or unselfish, from the admin- 
istration. 



NO YEMBER 8, 18 64. 

The writer of the message intended to be cautious, but has in 
several points written an indiscreet paper. That part which will 
attract most attention, is the passage relating to a suggested con- 
scription of negroes for soldiers. This project originated with those 
who had not fully reflected on its character, and has been a matter 
of some publicity by others who delight in all things which make a 
sensation. The proposition has, in fact, made a considerable sensa- 
tion both in the Northern and Southern sections. It has not hitherto 
been mentioned in these columns, because there was no possibility 
that it would become a practical measure of policy, and because it 
was a matter to provoke violent discord of feeling and speech at a 
period when such discussion was most undesirable. Both from its 
delicacy and from the fact that it has never been a subject of official 
deliberation, we are surprised to see it treated in the President's 
message. But since the question has been so introduced, its consid- 
eration can no longer be avoided. 

It is a proposition which can be supported only on the ground 
that good soldiers can be made of the negroes. Now, what is the 
real value of the negro as a soldier ? The enemy's actual experi- 
ment is not the only test which has been applied to the race. Since 
the conquest of Algiers, the French ai-my has contained a considera- 
able force of negroes. They constitute nearly the whole of the 
troops popularly called in France Turcos. It is generally supposed 
that these Tfrcos are Moors. Tliere are some Moors among them, 
but most, even of these, are of the mixed blood. The mass of these 
troops are negroes, blacker than any of our slaves. They were em- 
ployed in the Italian war of 1859, or, at least, they constituted a part 
of that army which Napoleon III. marched into Italy five years ago, 
and which gained the famous victories of Magenta and Solferino. 
Great expectations were entertained of the negro soldiers by the 
misinformed. Their appearance among the European troops was a 



213 

novelty, and the people amnsed tliemselres with apochryphal tales 
of their ferocious valor in Africa, about to be ncAvly illustrated on 
the Austrians. But in none of the battles which followed were the 
negroes pi'ominent ; and they were only heard of occasionally as the 
guards of Lombard regiments, who had thrown down their arms 
and surrendered as soon as they got an opportunity. These negro 
legions were, of course, commanded by white officers, and kept 
under severe discipline. The writer of this made inquiries of many 
among said officers as to their military worth. When any of them 
would give a definite reply, it was always to the effect — that they 
were good sometimes for a rush, but they could not be made to 
stand grape. 

This answer is the truth, and the whole truth on' the subject. 
The Yankees have taken great pains, and persevered in the effort, 
to make soldiers out of negroes. They have given them the best of 
every thing. Nothing has been left undone to create a martial 
spirit. Their courage has been carefully nursed. They have been 
kept near to many battles without being exposed to the fire, so that 
they might become accustomed to the sights and sounds of war with- 
out being unnerved by their own slaughter. But what has the 
enemy gained by them after two years' trial? They got them to 
make a " rush " at Port Hudson and Battery Gilmer; but they took 
neither. Those who know the negro never expected less, and will 
never look for more. That race is capable of blind, brute, contagious 
excitement, and while in that state it can make, not a charge, but a 
rush on points where the intelligence of a trained white soldier 
would show to him only death without the possibility »f success. 
By such wild and senseless onslaught batteries are not taken, nor 
victories won ; for their mob-like rush is not fighting, nor is the 
excitation which destroys the sense of danger by a frenzied bewil- 
derment the courage which directs the aim of the rifle and the point 
of the sword. 

It is sometimes said that the negroes would make better soldiers 
for us than for the Yankees, because they would fight under the eyes 
of their masters and friends. Such sentimental suppositions show a 
great ignorance of the negro's character ; and, even if they were 
founded on some truth, attachment to his master would be no bal- 
ance to his native fickleness and the strong incentives to desertion 
which the enemy would hold out to him. The fact is, the negro 
soldier costs far more than he is worth to Frenchman and Yankee, 
and to us he would be more troublesome than to either of the others. 

Our enemy has raised its negro army, not as a military, but as 
a political measure — to have the cant of*the world on its side — to 
procure the full and consistent support of the Abolitionist party. 
With his views and purposes, the creation of the negro soldier is 
consistent and natural. 

But the existence of a negro soldier is totally inconsistent with 
our political aim, and with our social as well as political system. 
We surrender our position whenever we introduce the negro to 
arms. If a negro is fit to be a soldier, he is not fit to be a slave ; and 



214 

if any Ifirge portion of the race is fit for free labor — fit to live and be 
^useful under the competitive system of labor — then the whole race is 
fit for it. The employment of negroes as soldiers in our armies, either 
with or without prospective emancipation, would be the first step, but 
a step which would involve all the rest, to universal abolition. It 
would be so understood and regarded by all the world. Our enemy 
would perceive that he had succeeded in his design to the point of 
moral subjugation, and would not doubt that our absolute submission 
was far removed. To our own hearts it would be a confession, not 
only of weakness, but of absolute inability to secure the object for 
which we undertook the war. It would be felt by all as a compromise 
to the abolitionism of the world, incompatible with that independence 
of action for which the South strives. 

But the objections to this project are so manifest that it is un- 
necessary at present even to suggest them. The President opposed 
the introduction of negroes into the army as soldiers, but desires a 
corps of forty thousand, to be xised in labor on fortifications, as en- 
gineers, as teamsters, and as sappers and miners. To a proposition 
of that sort no one could have the least objection, if he had not con- 
cluded with an obscure passage, which, if it means any thing, means 
that the forty thousand slaves so employed shall be set free at the 
end of the war as a reward for their service. Here, while refusing 
to employ the slaves under arms, he adopts the fatal principle of the 
original proposition to its fullest extent, and puts forth an idea, 
which, if admitted by the Soiithern people as a truth, renders their 
position on the matter of slavery iitterly untenable. We hold that 
the negro is in his proper situation, — that is to say, in the condition 
which is the best for him ; Avhere he reaches his highest moral, in- 
tellectual, and physical development, and can enjoy the full sum of 
his natural happiness ; in a word, that while living with the white 
man in the relation of slave, he is in a state superior and better for 
him than that of freedom. But the negro's freedom is to be given 
to him as a reward for his service to the country ; his freedom, 
therefore, is a boon — it is a better state — a natural good of which 
our laws deprive him and keep him from. Now, that is the whole 
theory of the abolitionist; and we have the sorrow to think that if 
one portion of this Presidential message means any thing, it means 
that. 



DECEMBER 21, 1864. 

The news from Tennessee is bad. The situation is bad ; but it 
is far from being irremediable. The army in Tennessee has been 
terribly misused, and has suffered gi-eat injury : but it is not lost, 
and may be restored to full efficiency by the same hand which re- 
deemed it after Missionary Ridge. But to change the fortune of 
the country, the Executive and the Legislature must change their 
character, and abandon the road to ruin hitherto systematically- 
pursued by both. 



216 

The opening of tliis campaign found our two liest men in real 
command, and in the two principal positions — Lee in Mrginiaj 
Johnston in Georgia. The military condition of the country- 
was never so prosperous as it was at midsummer; for these ^wo 
men had so done their work, that it was then morally certain that 
the last supreme effort of the enemy Avas going to fail ; and had it 
failed, it is impossible to doubt that this year would have been the 
last of the wai-. The unexpected and inconsequent freak of the 
Executive, the removal of Johnston, permitted in silence by the 
country, has produced fruits such as inconsequence, folly and sub- 
serviency never produced before. Although great evils might have 
been and were apprehended at the time, the results have so much sur- \ 
passed expectations that they assume the appearance of a judgment. 

But let the past go. The best remedy for present evils is sim- I 
ply to stop the courses which have caused them. Let the Executive 
cease to interfere with the armies ; send Johnston to the wreck of 
that army which he surrendered to Hood in such magnificent con- 
dition ; give him carte blanche to do what he thinks i)roper for its 
salvation and for the defence of the country, with a guarantee that 
neither his commission nor his plans will any more be meddled 
with; give to Beauregard complete discretion of action on the 
coast ; leave to Lee his whole anny and full powers in Virginia, — 
and prosperity will return, good fortune will again befall the army 
of the South, and the great dangers which now menace the Con- 
federacy will vanish like the clouds of the last rain. 

But good sense, modesty, and justice, will never actuate the 
Executive while Congress abdicates its functions, and public opinion 
its rights. Nations will suffer just punishment whenever they in- 
trust power to puny hands, puff up the conceit and encourage the 
passions of their rulers by fulsome flatteiy or silent submission. 
We have done so. The follies of the Government are manifest to 
all, but if any one who pays their cost proposes opposition, or even 
a remonstrance, the amiable majority cry ^^ Hush/ oh, hush, hush! 
we can't get rid of him ; and he will do thus and so, all tlie more, 
if he is opposed. Don't say anything. We must have concord — una- 
nimity — and there must be no opposition to Government." — There- \ 
fore, the only voice which is heard at all is the voice of flatterers — 
the voice of those who have neither head nor heart, neither knowl- 
edge nor principle. Hence the Executive is encouraged to pursue I 
its fancies ; and although every military misfortune of the country is 
palpably and confessedly due to the personal interference of Mr, 
Davis, the Congress continues at each session to be his subservient 
tool, and to furnish new incentives to perversity, new means of mis- 
chief 

It will not be sufficient for the Executive to have lucid intervals. 

Congress and the Southern public must change their attitude, adopt ' 

a more distinct and manly tone, deal with their own atiuirs with 
more resolution, keep the Executive in the path of duty, and curb 
it with a peremptory hand when it interferes with things beyond its 
capacity. Great adversity has fallen upon us ; but the power of 



216 

the Southern St9.tes is not broken ; their resources are enormous ; 
and on no side is the breach irreparable. Of all external dangers, 
there is not one which cannot successfully be met. But a greater 
danger is Avithin ; folly vested Avith license, and flattery to encourage 
folly. No calamity which has happened is in itself ruinous ; but 
what will ruin us is this — that the Government should go on to do, 
and continue to do, the identical acts which have made calamity by 
the necessary sequence of cause and effect. The more harmony, 
and the more concord, and the more self-abnegation, we do evince 
under such circumstances, the more rapid is our progress to destruc- 
tion. Let us determine that the course of the ship shall be altered; 
with that determination will be found the means to compel the change. 



DECEMBER 29, 1864. 

Several persons have employed themselves lately in preparing 
statistical tables of the wealth, food, and fighting men, remaining in 
the Confederacy, subject to the command of the Government. 
They prove conclusively that the amount of all these things is still 
very great — enormous — suflicient to support far greater efforts than 
the Confederacy has yet made. To question the accuracy of their 
facts is far from our purpose; indeed their truth has been so long 
and so well known to all who have examined the subject, that the 
proof and tabular exposition seem to them quite superfluous, and 
even uninteresting. Material exhaustion is not yet felt by. the mass 
of the nation ; not felt in the slightest or most distant degree. It 
will never be felt. But the nation may soon suffer from moral ex- 
haustion. The country will never be iinable, if willing, to supply 
the wants of its Government, but it may easily become unwilling; 
and then no pressure of legislation will be of much value. Pressure 
will obtain only those few drops which trickle from the squeezed 
orange, and soon get nothing at all. 

These Southern States are lands of Goshen. — A hot summer and 
a fertile soil will always produce a superabundance of bread and 
meat. They contain five millions of the most fighting people in the 
world, and can always supply three hundred thousand arms-bearing 
men in the prime of life. The extent of their territory is so great, 
that its real occupation by the armed forces of two or three such 
nations as Hiat we are fighting is inconceivable. The enemy is per- 
fectly aware of the fact, and does not base his hope of subjugation 
on the practical application of main strength, but upon the sub- 
mission of the Avill, and consequent inability, to contend to the last 
extremity, Avhich he expects to see at some time spread over the land. 

That is, in fact, the only contingency on which the subjugation 
of the South is possible. The Southern States are in no danger so 
long as the spirit of the people is what it has hitherto been. But 
let us not be blind to the truth, that there is such a thing possible as 
a decay of national confidence and a death of national spirit. There 



217 

is such n thing as henrt-hrealc for nations as for inLlividuals. There 
are such tilings as hopelessness and despair, lethargy and apathy. 
A conviction that all that it will do must cotne to naught, all sacri- 
fices it can make be rendered vain by an irremediable cause, — a 
conviction resting on rational grounds, both of reflection and experi- 
ment, will produce this state of feeling in any nation, however 
heroic and however obstinate. 

No people have ever or anywhere displayed more patient cour- 
age, moie constancy in misfortune, or a greater magnanimity toward 
its Government than the Southern people. Neither Sidney John- 
ston's evacuation of Nashville, nor Lovell's of New Orleans; neither 
Murfreesboro', or Missionary Ridge, or Vicksbiirg were sufficient to 
damp their energy or their hope. Armies lost have been replaced 
by other armies. Resources squandered have been only the signal 
for the production of new treasures. No single calamity will dis- 
hearten them, nor twenty, nor a hundred, if, by any ingenuity, they 
can persuade themselves that they are the chances of war and acci- 
dent, and not the necessary consequences of unfailing causes which 
must produce the like again and again forever. But it is impossible 
to bear up under such a weight as that painful conviction; and the 
conduct of the Government is likely enough to produce it in the 
end. The unparalleled absurdity of that management which sent 
Hood to Nashville and Sherman to Savannah, has produced a certain 
gloomy impression upon the public mind, too deep and strong to be 
removed by an ordinary anodyne. AVords are now useless. Elo- 
quent appeals, manifestoes, high-spirited resolutions, theories, nos- 
trums of all kinds, will now be thrown away. Nothing will remove 
the cloud — or rather, the lurid, ill-omened light — which now rests 
on the future, but measures that touch the root of our evil. 

Such a measure there is. A remedy for all discontent has sug- 
gested itself to the mind of every man who thinks, and has been 
advised by a thousand mouths in the same breath. It is the creation 
of a new officer — a commander-in-chief — who shall exercise supreme 
control over the armies and military affiiirs of the Confederacy ; and 
the appointment of General Lee to be that officer. Such an act, if 
made in good faith, and solidly guarded against counteracting influ- 
ences, would restore public confidence, and give the country heart 
for a new eflbrt equal to that which it has hitherto made. It would 
do more to bring down the price of gold and restore faith in the cur- 
rency, than any law that the Secretary can devise, however wise in 
principle, and however ingenious in detail. The people would be 
satisfied that their means are not thrown away ; that the best use of 
their blood and property would be made that could be made. The 
adoption of such a measure would be the new birth of the Southern 
Confeileracy. But it must be a real, substantial measure, guaran- 
teed by the representatives of the nation ; not a sham — not a duplex 
general order, creating another Beauregard or Johnston " Depart- 
ment under the control of the President." And it must be adopted 
in time — that is to say, now. We utter the general opinion, but 
confess that we see little encouragement to suppose that this preser t 
Congress has the decision of character necessary to give it force. 
15 



!]8 



MEMOIR. 



JoHx MoNcuRE Daniel was born October 24, 1825, in Stafford 
County, Virginia. His early youth was marked by a fondness for 
books ; being of a serious nature, inclined rather to shun than to 
enjoy tlie pastimes usual to one of liis age. His father, Dri John 
Moncure Daniel, took especial care to instruct him in the several 
brandies of school education ; and of this instruction he availed him- 
self to the fullest extent, conscious as ho was of the impossibility of 
going to a college or university, and of the necessity under Avhich 
he would be to earn his own livelihood. It was remarked that his 
extraordinary passion for reading was not the silly mania of holding 
volumes before the eyes in order to be accounted a reader, but arose 
from an earnest desire to acquire knowledge that might be useful 
to him in the future ; that whatever might temporarily distract his 
attention, he would ever hasten to resume his studies. One who 
had hiui constantly in view at that age, relates that '' he Avas a very 
bright, handsome boy, giving promise to be of an unusual character." 
Before leaving his native county, he had ransacked all the libraries 
within his reach in the neighborhood, and had annotated the mar- 
gins of their volumes, as the same authority further relates, " with 
many observations, frequently remarkable, always critical." At the 
age of fifteen he was sent to Richmond, in order to continue his edu- 
cation, sojourning in that city several years. On their expiration, 
law was fixed upon as a profession for him, and, accordingly, he 
studied that science in the office of JudgeLbmax, in Fredericksburg. 
Before completing the ordinary course of reading, the sudden death 
of his fither no longer iDerniitting him to pursue the career chosen, 
which, for the rest, had never possessed any special attractions in his 
eyes, he returned, in 1845, to Richmond, to seek a support. After 
repeated researches and much disappointment, he finally succeeded 
in obtaining, through friendly recommendation, the task of superin- 
tending a small public library in Richmond, the fulfilment of A^hich 
fetched him a mere pittance of money. With eagerness and alacrity 
he undertook the duties of the ofiice, regarding it as a fair bargain, 
thanks to the books which would thus be under his control, and to 
the leisure time that would be at his disposal in which to read them. 
In this new position he labored incessantly to advance himself in 
knowledge, so much so as to incur friendly reproach and demand in 
regard to the requirements of health. At this epoch of his life he 
kept a diary, in which was commenced to be noted acts and occur- 
rences ; but these being very rare and few, the diary soon became 
changed into a register of meditations and criticisms upon miscella- 
neous topics, notably, religious and literary. His inclination for 
the pen being thus displayed, it was suggested to him by an intimate 



219 

friend to write contributions for the newspapers; and the same friend 
vohmteered to procure his debut in the press. This, it was thought, 
niight bring him an increase of means. No sooner was this sugges- 
tion made than it was accepted. The contributions were submitted, 
published, attracted attention, and very soon afterwards there was 
made to the contributor an offer of the cditorsliip of a monthly agri- 
cultural magazine, entitled Tlie Southern Planter. This periodical 
he conducted for a short Avhile, infusing a new tone into its pages. 
Propositions being made to him by one of the Richmond editorial 
corps to write for a new Democratic paper, then only recently es- 
tablished, entitled Rlr/nnond Semi- WeeJcbj EMinnner, they were at 
once accepted ; the editorial chair of the Planter was assumed by 
another, and the following announcement appeared in the E;vauun€r : 
"John M. Daniel, Esq., is connected with the editorial department 
of this paper." In a few months he became editor-in-chief and part 
proprietor of the Examiner, thenceforward exercising entire control 
over it. 

In those days, as may be recollected, all men and all things 
belonged to the Democratic ]iarty or to the Whig party — at least 
in Virginia. Our enemies the Whigs ; our friends the Democrats, 
and reversely; these were the watchwords of the two camps into 
which the State was drawn up in battle-array : a miniature war of 
words, in anticipation of the huge war of the sword which was fist 
approaching, unseen. The Democracy had all the prestige of suc- 
cess ; they ruled at Washington, and they ruled in Virginia. But 
Rich.mond was confessedly a Whig city, and the publication of a 
new Democratic organ in the citadel of Whigger}'^ met with no 
slight opposition. Hence, the -Errt/jii/ne;*, during, the first stage of 
its existence, encountered many enemies, mostly political, not a few 
personal, owing to the style in which it was conducted. Everybody 
in the city read the new paper, while few citizens were disposed to 
assist it by subscriptions and advertisements. 

Democracy had been a tradition in Mr. Daniel's family. He 
himself had been duly imbued with and instructed in the tenets of 
the true f lith ; and with all the enthusiasm of youth, and the con- 
sciousness of his journalistical powers, he enlisted under its banner, 
confident of being on the high road to promotion. Nor Avas it false 
confidence. Under the regime of the constitution then existing in 
Virginia, he was readily elected a member of the Council of State ; 
and, on taking charge of the Examiner he at once attacked the 
Whigs wherever they were to be found,and especially those ensconced 
in the stronghold of Richmond City, fighting them with improved 
weapons, dealing stout blows, and neither asking nor giving quarter. 
The effect of such a violently offensive system was to enhance the 
prospects of the party and of the paper, but also, as well, to create 
for the editor a host of personal enemies, some of whom, suffering 
from the incurable wounds produced by his ridicule and sarcasm, 
entertained towards him an intense and bitter animosity as long as 
he lived. The attacks being made right and left, embracing some 
of the most prominent and powerful men of the city and of the 



220 

State, it was a, matter of course that the cohimns of the Examiner 
should have been continually filled with exciting quarrels in regard 
to the politics of the day, and that the editor should frequently have 
been personally called to account for his public utterances, as was 
the case. However, coming unscathed out of all his troubles, and 
the several political and bodily struggles which befell him, having 
obtained by his course no slight influence and eminence throughout 
Virginia, he was forthwith promoted and accepted to be one of the 
leaders of the ever triumphant, great and glorious Democracy, and 
the Examiner recognized as its champion. He contended for the 
Democratic doctrines with zeal, believing them to be for the general 
welfare ; but his zeal- was not fanatical in the least. Party men and 
measures were examined, and rejected or accepted at will. Calhoun 
and Jackson he regarded as the only two Americans of latter days' 
celebrity who could claim his admix-ation. Depth and precision of 
thought in the one, strength of character, force of nerve in the other, 
had a fascination in his eyes, and he ever looked up to them with a 
feeling of satisfiiction, as being strong men, an honor to any country. 
The lamentation he uttered after the death of Stonewall, and at a 
critical juncture of the war:" "Oh, for the dead Dundee ! Oh, for 
an hour of Jackson," possessed truly a double meaning. 

In its quality of a semi-weekly sheet, the Examiner had few 
employees or reporters. It was the custom of the editor to furnish 
both original and selected "copy." Enjoying the society of a few 
chosen friends, who were all clever gentlemen, he induced some of 
them to write for his columns, and they eventually became regular 
contributors thereto, and writers of distinction. One of the marked 
features of the paper consisted in its literary reviews, all new books 
being unsparingly dissected. Edgar A. Poe was induced to revise 
his principal poems for special publication in the Examiner, and, at 
the time of his death, was under an engagement to furnish literary 
articles to its editor, who regarded him as the poet of America. 
Another feature of the paper, which was very efi'ective with the 
Richmond public, was the treatment bestowed on personages of local 
celebrity, and the application to them of epithets, full of point and 
ridicule. Many of these epithets, because so h;ippily coined and 
distributed, are remembeied to-day all over Virginia. 

The question of slavery was being agitated by the Levellers. 
These were engaged in the task of adding liiel to the flame destined 
to consume the edifice raised by Washington. Thus, Southern in- 
stitutions being the theme of universal discussion, particularly in the 
press, the Examiner was not slow to descend into the arena to de- 
fend them against all comers. It singled out the A^ Y. Tjribune, as 
the recognized champion of the abolitionists, for a general argument- 
ation of the exciting topic. Always on the offensive, it attacked 
the creed and practices of the abolitionists, as the sum of all villan- 
ies and hypocrisies, adducing unanswerable logic in explanation 
and justification of the course which the Southern people had thought 
fit and best to follow ; against all of which the Tribune invariably 
returned to the charge, with repeated doses of its sentimental human- 



221 

itarianism, abolitionism, fanaticism, and its renowned budget of 
crude theories. 

Such an active participation in the political arena, such an effi- 
cient support of the Democratic party, extended the rej)utation of 
the Krainiaer, and during the Presidential campaign of 1852, it 
Mdelded a powerful influence in belialf of the Democratic candidate. 
On the inauguration of Mr. Pierce, he appointed its editor Charge 
d'Atfaires near the Court of Turin. Mr. Daniel thereupon sold his 
paper — reserving, however, the right to repurchase it on his return 
to the United States — and in the summer of 1853 left Richmond to 
enter upon the duties of his mission.* Scarcely had he reached New 
York, on the way, Avlien he was arrested ; not by order of the Gov- 
ernment, however, but by the machinations of a Yankee pedler. 
This pedler had been severely criticised in the JSxcnni/wr; denounced 
as a swindler, for attempting to palm off certain counterfeit wares 
upon people in the South. Consequently, keeping a sharp lookout 
for Mr. Daniel's arrival in Northern borders, with a view to picking 
np a penny, the said pedler brought suit against him for damages, 
and caused his arrest as soon as he put foot on New York soil. 
Bail being given, Mr. Daniel was allowed to proceed on his journey, 
and the suit was left to be the prey of contending lawyers. After 
many months of trouble, correspondence, and judicial postpone- 
ments, decision was had in the case, and it need scarcely be added 
that the Southerner was mulcted. 

American diplomatists labor under great disadvantages compared 
with those of Europe. Chief among these disadvantages, as being 
the one of most practical effect, is the question of languages : foreign 
idioms are not their specialty. It is clear that a President may 
appoint ambassadors in a twinkling ; but it cannot come to pass 
that he should display equal facility in endowing them ^^^th a 
knowledge of the languages of the countries whither they are to be 
sent. In general, not one American in a thousand can speak French, 
the language of diplomacy, or any other foreign tongue, in an intel- 
ligible manner. There are the best of reasons for this. In the first 
place, the smattering of the living languages acquired at certain 
hours of the day in American schools and colleges, or in " private 
lessons," amounts to nothing, for the most part because promptly 
forgotten ; and that little it occasionally does signify could never 
anywhere be entitled " speaking and writing," not to mention 
" speaking and writing correctly," according to authority. Lan- 
guages ai'e acquired only in the countries or localities where they 
reign supreme — and even then it is not given to all to become suffi- 
ciently acquainted with them. In a country where English alone is 
needed, and whose inhabitants are hurriedly and continually engaged 
in felling forests, building roads, digging canals, uprooting stumps 
in order to plough the soil, founding cities, and amassing material 
interests from the cradle to the grave — as must be the case in a 
new country, — little time is found, and less inclination, to meddle 

* The writer accompanied him, and was his secretary during his residence in 
Turin. 



222 

wdtli grammars and literature at large. Not needed, for instance, 
precisely on account of the situation of this country, they are not 
cared for. Whereas it would be quite diiferent if the United States 
were placed similarly in position as any one of the countries in 
Europe, Avhere each State adjoins half-a-dozen others possessing 
separate languages, and where hourly intercourse across frontiers 
leads those various languages to become generally known. Hence, 
there is ample ground of disadvantage for American diplomatists 
to labor iinder at the courts to which they are sent, as it were, to 
school, and where they remain, during their stay, as scholars learning 
the A B C of the country's language. Although this failure on the 
part of our representatives to express themselves with correctness 
and elegance, may be impossible of avoidance, though it may be 
apparently termed insignihcant, it is nevertheless and in reality an 
immense dx'awback for the ambassador, personally, and might be- 
come one for his country. Jabbering in any language, or wretched 
blunders and errors, must ever excite to ridicule, to say the least. 

In this respect, then, the comparison between the diplomats of 
the old and new worlds is wholly in disfavor of those of the latter. 
Diplomacy in Europe being a life-long career, all who embrace it 
must be thoroughly prepared therefor by long years of practical 
training ; mastery of languages being the first requisite. But in 
other respects, also, though not in essentials, the difterence between 
the two systems is immense : a difference from republicanism to 
imj^erialisra. According to our system, a lucky blacksmith who 
climbs into notice, may get himself appointed a representative 
abroad, but with the certainty of being obliged in turn to cede his 
luck to another who will be anxious to enjoy the same high honor. 
Thus while the several diplomatic servants of "their Majesties" are 
arrayed in brilliant decorations, high titles, splendid equipments, 
lui-nished Avith princely salaries and dwelling in superb palaces 
belonging to their respective governments, — the agents of the State 
Department are always remarkable for simplicity — of some kind — 
which springs from necessity, of some kind, seeing that republics, 
for their part, are only disposed to allow their servants the plain 
comforts without any of the luxuries of life, lest at any time a con- 
trary practice might serve to their detriment either in pocket or 
dignity. For the rest, the United States have often sent to Europe 
eminent and clever men clothed with the ambassadorial character ; 
never a diplomat in the proper or European acceptation of the term. 

Mr. Daniel was not only a diplomatist of the American school 
through necessity, but Avas by nature entirely iinadapted to become 
an adept in the art of the Talleyrands and the Metternichs. On 
leaving his country, he was probably better informed of European 
history and customs than the generality of agents sent out from 
Washington ; — as to languages, he spoke French as Americans and 
Englishmen only can. But though enabled to perfect his acquaint- 
ance with the French while in the diplomatic service abroad, under 
two administrations, it Avas not his aim, in accepting the appoint- 
ment conferred on him by Mr. Pierce, to become a diplomatist or a 



223 

linguist. lie wont to Turin with the special purpose of observing 
the European world and of travelling over it: and in this point of 
view his mission Avas successful, being particularly beneficial to him- 
self, and possessing no signification or hnportance in the nature of 
things, Mr. Marcy and Mr. Cass had as little business of a political 
character to transact with the kingdom of Sardinia as with the man 
in the moon. 

In pursuance of instruction, Mr. Daniel proceeded without delay 
to Turin, his predecessor having already left the Legation vacant. 
Besides this, the new charge d'atfaires received one other instruc- 
tion from the State Department. Mr. Marcy had imagined that his 
agents should not be required to dress otherwise in attending foreign 
courts than they would in visiting the President of the United 
States, and, accordingly, had issued a circular, prescribing a plain 
suit of black as the only uniform for American ministers — a circular 
which forthwith produced innumerable disputes and vexations at 
all the courts. It was given to Mr. Daniel for his guidance. He 
observed it strictly, and never appeared "in the uniform of his 
charge" before the king of Sardinia, though such a proceeding at 
first met Avith polite objections on the part of the court officials. 
On arriving at his post, he took possession of the Legation and 
presented his letter of credit to General Dabormida, the minister 
of foreign afiairs, who, finding it in good and due form, procured 
him an audience of the king, Victor Emmanuel 11. The \isual 
interchange of speeches friendly and to the point having passed, n . 

the ceremony of presentation Avas over. It Avas three y ears after jtd*%/'^^ 

this that Mr. Daniel received, in accordance witli Actr~(5f Con-' ^ ' 

gress, the promotion in rank to be minister resident near this 
sovereign. 

In 1853, Italy was subdivided into seven little principalities 
or kingdoms, Sardinia Avas one of the smaller ones, but it at- 
tracted greater attention and Avas considered more important, 
vicAved politically, than all the others combined, since it could 
boast of a constitutional government. Turin, its capital, had just 
entered iipon the most famous stage of its existence; in the du- 
ration of which the dynasty of the Dukes of Savoy Avas to pass 
from an insignificant rule over five millions of subjects to that 
over tAventy-five millions : transforming itself into Italian roJ^alty, 
and accomplishing the dream of many centuries — the cherished 
aim of the great Dante, or the formation of Italy into one State. 
Thanks to Cavour and Napoleon III. Never was there a more 
brilliant period, perhaps for any country; certainly one replete 
with instruction to an attentive eye-AAdtness, and extremely in- 
teresting. 

Turin itself Avas receiving celebrity, becoming the theme of 
all Europe and the asylum of distinguished and oppressed patriots, 
Cavour had initiated the " Italian Question " or clamor against 
Austrian tyranny in the Peninsula, Victor Emmanuel had not 
then met Avith the family berea\"ements — the death of his wife, 
child, and brother occurring in the short space of a few weeks — 



224 

which obscured the liistre of snl)sequcnt ceremonies, and conse- 
quently the court was gay. Operas, theatres, balls, &c., &c., where 
attended royalty, with all its concomitants of parade, etiquette, 
finery, and foolery, were in full blast. 

Into participation of all such festivities and ceremonies .^Ir. 
Daniel was brought by his official charact r. But soon an occur- 
rence, most unfortunate for one in his position, deprived him, of his 
own will, of many of the prevailing enjoyments. During the first 
few months of his sojourn in Turin he had written a letter to one 
of his former companions in Virginia, criticising very sharply the 
society and customs of the country in whicli he found himself, and, 
in particular, his colleagues of the diplomatic corps. It was a dis- 
paraging letter of that kind which are penned and returned to their 
homes by curious travellers, suddenly struck with the difference 
existing between their own and the countries they visit, excepting 
that it was written with greater strength of terras than is usually 
the case. It contained rough truths in regard to Piedmont and 
the Piedmontese ; but it was marked " strictly private and confi- 
dential," and was not in the least intended to receive publicity. 
Through some inattention on the part of the receiver of the said 
letter, it was allowed to go out of his keeping into the colunms of a 
newspaper. Of course, translated immediately and cii'culated in the 
European journals, it went the rounds all over the Continent as a 
specimen of American diplomacy in actual practice. Mr. Daniel 
had written and mailed the letter: it had been forgotten by him. 
Had a miracle been accomplished before his eyes, it would not, per- 
haps, have caused him greater astonishment than did one* fine morn- 
ing the perusal of his views in print, in regard to " garlick," Turinese 
"counts," and " empty-headed diplomats, with titles as long as a 
flagstaff." It would be difficult to describe the effects of this publi- 
cation at Turin, in an old and illustrious court highly mounted on 
etiquette, where a look, a gesture, a movement, in any way opposed 
to the received routine, were wont to be construed of the utmost im- 
portance. With the citizens, the uproar produced by its reception 
was such as if a small-sized Vesuvius had been transported for forty- 
eight hours into the capital of Piedmont. It must be said, how- 
ever, that the newspapers and good folks of that plain but comfort- 
able city overlooked the affiiir after the first outbreak of indignation, 
with a generous facility. The only action had in the matter was 
taken by a club composed of the elite of the nobility and the entire 
diplomatic corps. Mr. Daniel had up to the time been a constant 
frequenter of this club, where he had especially enjoyed the compan- 
ionship of Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian representative and son of 
the celebrated writer ; but, though not severing his membership, he 
discontinued his visits there after the occurrence related. A very 
polite letter was addressed to him by the President of the club, in- 
forming him of the " unpleasant effect which a certain letter, said to 
have been written by you, sir," had caused, and stating that " the 
association has directed me to request of you, sir, any explanation 
that it mav please you to furnish," In satisfaction of this request, 



225 

Mr. Daniel made a frank statement, announcing his regret that what 
liad been only written in the strictest confidence should have been 
spread before the public gaze ; oiferiiig to hold himself in readiness 
to give any honorable satisfaction that the club, collectively, might 
deem due to itself, or that any of its members, individually, might 
choose to demand. The club's rejily was to the effect that this ex- 
planation was considered entirelj'^ satisfactory to all concerned, and 
no further steps were taken on any side afterwards. The letter, as 
published, was as follows : 

" Aproix)s, we take the liberty of publishing' extracts from one of Mr. Daniel's 
recent letters of private correspondence, which will furnish answers to the daily 
inquiries which are so Icindly made, by letter as weU as orally, concerning his health 
and his opinions of Europe. 

" ' It may be strange, but it is nevertheless true, that I have been as really and 
truly homesick for the last three months, as ever was any little school-girl in her 
first quarter at tlie boarding-house. If you knew how much pleasanter a life of real 
work and study in the United States is than this nonsensical travel and idleness, 
you would not be so discontented. One will only learn by experience, however ; 
and the best thing I expect to get, personally, out of this mission, is just this : that 
I will be satisfied when I get back, and never again be haunted by tbose intolerable 
longings for Europe which tormented me in the years gone by. 

" ' The pleasure of actually seeing celebrated places is small. It is all anticipa- 
tion. The real comforts of Eiu-ope don't compare with those of the United States.' 
[An exaggeration, as is well known, drawn at first siglit.] ' The people are nowhere 
as good as ours. The women are uglier; the men have fewer ideas. I intended 
to write a book about it all ; and I thought, when I left tlie United States, that I 
would have to stretch the blanket a good deal to make out our su]X)riority. But 
tliere is no need. The meanness, the filthy hfe, the stupidities of all the countries 
I have seen, surpass all I expected and all I hoped 

" ' Here, in Turin, which is the most beautiful city I have seen, I am busily learn- 
ing to speak French, and studying what is iKipularly, but most falsely, termed the 
" great world " and " polite society ." I have dined with dukes, jabbered bad grammar 
to countesses, and am sponged on for seats in my opera-lxix by counts who stink of 
garlick, as does the whole country.' [Rather garlicky, in truth.] 'I receive visits 
from diplomats with titles as long as a flagstaff, and heads as empty as their hearts, 
and find the whole concern more trashy than I had ever imagined. I must, how- 
ever, keep up their miserable acquaintance, for that is the only way of seeing the 
elephant of l<]uropean life. So I dance the dance of fools, like the rest of them, and 
return their visits sedulously. 

'■ ' The pictures, the operas, the ballets of Europe are good things ; the people, 
the governments, tlie society, more contemptible than can be conceivocL' [A rash 
judgment in the first days of discontented residence ; one partly reversed by sub- 
sequent residence.] 

" ' I have not yet got altogether well of my dreadful attack of last July. Till 
shortly after I got here, I was troubled with a chronic irritation — the remains of the 
epidemic, whicli annoyed me excessively. I was cured of it by a physician who is 
the cleverest person I have seen.' [Dr. Giacinto Pacchiotti — a remarkable linguist, 
speaking English perfectly, without ever having set foot out of Italy, and discoursing 
upon Scott and Bulwer, Dickens and Thackeray, even as any other; his practice con- 
sisting in administration of doses of talk extracted from the authors mentioned, to 
the English and Americans with unfailing curative effects, at 2 fr. a visit.] ' He 
gave me a decoction of tamarinds and poppies, a tumblerful every three hours, and 
a hot bath every morning. In some things I think better of European medical prac- 
tice than our own. I find the idea current among them which I have often broached 
to you, that chemistry is not competent to extract all the essential components of 
natural productions. 

" ' You ask about the court-dress. I will wear no court-dress, having made good 
my point with the authorities on that subject.' " 



226 

Mr. Daniel offered his resignation of the mission as beinpf ilue to 
the administration at Washington ; but, on a fall investigation of all 
the circumstances, it was decided by the American authorities to 
decline accepting it, and advice was consequently sent to hira to re- 
main where he was. This he Avas more than disposed to do, and 
precisely in order that it should not appear as if he sought to avoid 
the consequences of his incautious correspondence. But, naturally 
enough, his subsequent intercourse, quite restricted with all those 
people about whom he liad written so freely, was robbed of cordial- 
ity, for his own part, and constant vexation in regard to this affair 
never left him. His remaining pleasure consisted in continual travel 
and in the observations he was thus enabled to make of the various 
Euro])ean countries. The fair skies of Italy and the mechanical du- 
ties of a sinecure office had at last but a very slender fascmatiou for 
one of his active temperament, and under all the circumstances. Yet 
he did not resign because preferring as more advantageous the posi- 
tion of minister to that of editor — even though he congratulated him- 
self upon having already passed the ordeal of the " snapping village 
curs," as he informed a friend in the United States who besought him 
to resume his duties as a journalist. Whenever remaining at his 
post in Turin he suffered from ennui in its fullest measure, which was 
only partially gotten rid of by hard study and literary entertainment. 
He was at all times a constant reader. Moments passed in visiting 
places of note, and inspecting fxmous objects of art also furnished oc- 
cupation quite suited to his tastes. In his quality of ^prospective editor, 
moreover, he kept well posted in general politics ; American news- 
papers being always far more welcome at the Legation than American 
visitors, who were mostly of the importunate and inquisitive class. 

Mr. Daniel had intended in the beginning of his diplomatic serv- 
ice to make a short stay out of the United States, and to gather 
while absent material wherewith to write a book. He soon found, 
however, that such a pui-pose was untenable ; that every thing had 
been said about Europe, over and over again, and he was not in- 
clined to write what he would consider as trash, or to make mere 
repetition. Many friends from home wrote to him suggesting and 
m'ging the "propriety" of his writing a book at all hazards; but he 
replied, after mentioning the circumstances, that he did intend to 
write one, namely, a political history of the United States. He had 
firmly resolved to execute this intention whenever he should return 
home. Undoubtedly he might have composed a work in regard to 
the European system, either a political treatise or a romance replete 
with portraitui'e from living models — models rare and piquant — 
which would have sold well in the great American literary trash 
market. His eai'ly debut in politics, perhaps more than the bent of 
his disposition, prevented him from becoming a sensational novelist. 
Book-making in any shape he never attempted. He often stated that 
he knew exactly what he was adapted to do best, and that was to 
exercise his powers in the open field of journalism ; and certainly, 
"know thyself" was not an unobserved maxim with him. 

In the mean while he displayed an industrious research in collect- 



227 

ing antique coins, books, &c., and came to be regarded a connoisseur 
by the nntiquaiians in all tlie ])rincipal Italian cities. Often indi- 
viduals in sad plight arrived at tlie Legation, who, about to be re- 
fused admittance as belonging to the vast tribe of beggars Avhich in 
that country most do congregate — and elsewhere than on the Rialto 
— would immediately exhibit a rusty image of one of the twelve 
Caesars ; a passport invariably recognized. Copies of the celebra- 
ted paintings in the daub condition he despised ; and those worthy 
of the originals were only to be obtained through great expenditure 
of money ; much to his regret, for he appreciatetl the works of high 
art and desired to procure a collection of them both for himself and 
for others. 

The duties at the Legation were light, belonging chiefly to *he 
category of" red tape routine indulged in so profusely by the dip!o-« 
matic profession. One of the most important affiiirsthift came under 
Mr. Daniers consideration was that of an Italian who had been natu- 
ralized in the United States and who afterwards visited Sardinia, the 
place of his birth. The authorities thei'e, disregarding the doctrine 
of expatriation and naturalization cherished by the American Govera- 
ment, held him to perform his duties to the crown just as any other 
subject : a practice prevailing with all the European powers, and one 
involving war for the United States or a surrender of their claims. 
This man was conscripted for service in the army of Victor Emmanuel, 
and thereupon made the usual complaint to the Legation at Turin. 
Mr. Daniel, acting upon the avowed principles and policy of the 
Washington Government, considering that eveiy naturalized citizen 
should in reality receive full protection and all the privileges accord- 
ed to native Americans in return for his allegiance, took the case in 
hand and demanded his release of the Sardinian authorities. They 
refused the demand, whereupon Mr. Daniel protested against their 
action, and refen-ed the matter to Washington. He fully expected 
that the case would necessitate a rupture of the diplomatic relations 
existing between the two countries ; but, instead of this, there came 
a dispatch from Mr. Marcy, — one of that kind showing the difler- 
enee between buncombe and solid realities, — approving the corre- 
spondence and course pursued, but simply deciding that the case 
had V>etter be dropped. 

Many of that class of petty difficulties into which Americans 
entangle themselves while abroad, and from which they expect their 
representatives, in the teeth of all national propriety and interna- 
tional usage, to extricate them, were brought to the notice of Mr. 
Daniel, and were mostly by him disregarded, excepting in so much 
as to return a curt refusal to mix in the same. He always endeav- 
ored to protect American commercial interests whenever the officers 
of mercantile vessels fell under ban in Sardinian ports, which was 
frequent on account of their imprudence or ignorance. His inter- 
cession saved many of these from heavy fines, and many cargoes 
from confiscation by the revenue officials, who otherwise would have 
eagerly siezed upon an easy prey. 

During the Crimean and Italian wars, in which Piedmont took 



228 

an active part, Count Cavonr displayed bis genius to the Tvorld, and 
to his own people his faculty of absorbing power. He was the 
whole Government Avithin himself. All diplomatic affairs and busi- 
ness of all kinds were personally attended to by him. In all Mr. 
Daniel's negotiations with him, the Count exhibited a frankness and 
liberality of dealing, for which he was ever distinguished in official 
transactions. His promptness to satisfy the importunate exigencies 
put forward by Americans was remarkable ; at last his kindness was 
so often taxed by these people desirous of witnessing the operations 
of war during the campaign of 1859, that Mr. Daniel decided to de- 
cline presenting their petitions to the Ministry of Foreign Aifairs. 

In January, 1859, Prince Napoleon was sent by the Emperor 
Napoleon to Turin, to contract a matrimonial alliance with Victor 
Emmanuel's daughter, Princess Clotilda. On this occasion the cere- 
monial followed was pompous. Upstarts were being received into 
one of the most illustrious families of Europe — the House of Savoy — 
and with considerable murmuring on the part of the high old indige- 
nous nobles. The festivities were prolonged ; as a matter of course, 
his royal Majesty gave a magnificent ball in honor of the event ; 
and to this ball all the diplomats of the corps were invited. Mr. 
Daniel attended, escorting a cousin of the Napoleons — the Countess 
Marie de Solms. Notwithstanding the fact that this lady was a 
grand-daughter of Lucien Bonaparte, and his own cousin, Napoleon 
in. had seen fit to exile her from France when the second empire 
was established, because of her republican ideas and mocking dispo- 
sition towards the new empire. Taking up her abode in Savoy, 
within the dominions and under the protection of Victor Emmanuel, 
she established herself as an authoress without difficulty, bein^ re- 
markably intelligent and accomplished. She wrote books giving 
the history of her banishment and her correspondence with distin- 
guished characters ; she abused the empire ; and she published a 
literary magazine. In fine, both slie and her consin seemed to have 
reproduced for effect the admirable parts formerly played by the 
first emperor and Madame de Stael. Visiting the literary home- — 
Coppet style — she had created in Savoy, were to be found some of 
the most eminent authors and writers of France, — among whom were 
Eugene Sue, Ponsard, Girardin, &c., — all republicans and all ardent 
haters of Bonapartism. With this highly-gifted lady Mr. Daniel 
became acquainted, and found in her salon this cultivated and clever 
society to be the most congenial and charming he had yet met with 
in Europe. On the occasion alluded to, the lady was advised by 
her friends to attend the ball, in order to bring about a reconcilia- 
tion with her pufssant imperial relatives, and Mr. Daniel was called 
upon to afford his friendly assistance for that end. Her appearance 
at the court grievously displeased several of the high officials, who^ 
were almost walking on their knees in order to show zeal in behall 
of the " Man of the Second December." To Mr. Daniel remark was 
politely made by the king's prefect, upon the informality of present- 
ing a lady at the palace Avho had not received a special invitation — 
although she had often before been presented at court. With that 



229 

the aftair was ended at Turin. But Count Cavour, being especially 
in need of the good graces of the master reigning at Paris, in view 
of the outhreak of his long-souglit and much-nursed Italian war, 
conceived the idea of writing a private letter to his representative 
at Washington, — with instruction to re})ort its contents verbally to 
the American authorities, — advancing charges that Mr. Daniel had 
disregarded the rules of the court, and thereby given offence. This 
proceeding, according to the practice of Italian linesse, was effected 
without the least sign of change in the noble count's mood or man- 
ners towards the Legation. Through the courtesy of the Secretary 
of State, Mr. Cass, the contents of this letter were made known to 
Mr. Daniel's friends, who immediately informed him of the occur- 
rence, and he at once returned a statement in regard to the case so 
reported, as was entirely satisfactory to President Buchanan. A 
few years afterwards Napoleon's cousin-authoress married Signor 
Ratazzi, until within the last months prime minister of the king 
Victor Emnmnuel, and by far the most able Italian statesman since 
Cavour's death. Thus it may be presumed that she never encount 
tered any further difficulties in attending court balls at the royal 
palace of Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy, " Cyprus and Jerusa- 
lem," — or in ruling as the recognized head of court society in the 
present capital, Florence. As Madame Ratazzi she has recently 
created quite a little war among the personages of celebrity in Flor- 
entine circles, thanks to her keen French wit and fine-pointed pen. 
Several of her books upon the said society have had the fortune to 
draw general attention on the Continent, owing to the " flood of 
light " which they throw upon the doings of the great world. 

During the excitement that prevailed, in Piedmont when the mo- 
ment arrived for putting into execution Count Cavour's bargain, made 
at Plombieres with the emperor, viz., the annexation of Savoy and 
Nice to the empii-e, a laughable incident connected therewith was 
brought to j\lr. Daniel's notice. The enthusiastic and eccentric 
Garibaldi was bitterly opjjosed to the said annexation ; he was a 
Nicean, and hated Napoleon III. What must he bethink himself to 
do, therefore, but hasten to Turin, and make the most singular ap- 
peal that, perhaps, was ever addressed to a minister. He went to 
the Legation, and simply told ls\x. Daniel that he had come to ask 
him to annex Nice to the American Republic by throwing over it 
the " powerful protection of the American Banner ! " He stated that 
he made the request because he himself was proud to be a citizen of 
the United States, and because his " fellow-citizens of Nice loathed 
the French." The flattering offer was declined, owing to the exi- 
gencies of the Monroe doctrine — duly explained, — and only on that 
account, of course ; otherwise the tri-color might have met the stars 
and stripes in the streets of Nice. 

In regard to the political fortunes of Italy, Mr. Daniel kept the 
Government at Washington constantly well posted, receiving high 
compliments both from Mr. Marcy and Mr. Cass upon his dispatches. 
One of his friends at home, thinking to do him a service and friendly 
act, wrote to him, stating his determination to have the said dis- 



230 

patches " callecl for in the Senate, that thej- may appear before the 
world." To this the following reply was sent: — 

"* * * That idea is so unlike 3-011, that I cannot conceive how it ever entered 
yonr mind. Surely it must have been suggested by another person. Certainly, if I 
have a rancorous enemy, who wishes to do me the greatest possible harm in the 
most intelligent manner, he would resort to that course. He would force the 
Government to publish all my official correspondence — wo-itten not to be jmhlished 
— on topics that concern the present welfare and excite the most violent and most 
sensitive passions of millions, and so place me up with hands tied in a great pillory, 
for all the villains of two worlds to throw dirt on. What John Daniel miglit say, 
when a private individual would pass unnoticed; but a minister represents a nation, 
and he might compromise both it and himself by a single public word. Now I was 
instructed and encouraged to write true accounts of the politics of Italy for the 
information of the State Department. To be exact, I was obliged to say many 
words which would grate so harshly on the public ear and be so disagreeable to tlie 
Government here, that my position would be wholly imtenable the moment they 
were printed. I am sure, ray dear friend, tliat j'ou have never read my dispatches ; 
you have not the time; they will be printed without your knowing what is in them, 
and no one will be so much surprised and grieved as yourself, when you are waked 
up some morning by the ujjroar they can produce. 

" Soon after I left Virginia I found that a strange malady, an insane rage for 
publishing other people's letters had attaeked.all my young associates there. If I 
wrote a friendly letter to anybody, I got the smiling reply that they had just pub- 
lished some of it, or were just going to do it, or that they thought it would be quite well 
to publish this and that passage; — as if tlie greatest happiness, benefit, delight and 
honor that could possibly befall me was to be printed in a newspaper 1 They evi- 
dently thought that I would be pleased — while every such intimation caused me 
pain. Finding that my friends were so infected by this disease that they had 
become oblivious of the first social law, I ceased to write letters to any of them, 
and confined my correspondence to * * * and the United States Government. But 
are the printers and the public to intervene even then ? If there is any thing which 
should be left to a man's own action, it should be the publication of his own manu- 
script, the utterance of his own words. It is lie alone that must be responsible — he 
alone must pay for them ; and he alone can judge of the effect they will produce. 
Can it be supposed that if I wrote any thing for the public, I could not have it 
printed? 

" Do not take it ill if my words seem warm. I am sure that _you will not be 
offended, if you will for a moment change lalaces, in thouglit, with me, and imigine 
yourself in a position always delicate, and rendered doubly difficult by a previous 
publication. If j-ou will then suppose the anxiety you would suffer if told that a 
voluminous correspondence, written in perfect security, most unsuitable to publica- 
tion, and even gravely compromising, was to be printed for your benefit, but with- 
out your consent, and long before you could intercept or explain by word or sign, 
you would certainly then find this letter but a faint reflex of what your own sen- 
sations would be. Seven of the years which ought to have been the best and 
brightest of my life, have been spoilt and poisoned by an adventure similar to this ; 
and if now, when my ills seem to have nearly ended, when fortune is once more in 
my favor, I should for the second time fall on the same strange and inconceivable 
mischance, it would be cause of sore vexation and chagrin to me." 

The threatened publicity was not given to the documents in 
question, and jMr, Daniel remained quietly at Turin until December, 
1860. At that date he was informed of South Carolina's hasty steps 
to break the Union ; and no sooner heard than he remarked : " It 
has got to come to this at last, and the sooner the better." With- 
out delay he obtained leave to quit his post, and returned home to 
take part in the fortunes of Virginia, to which he was ever sincerely 
attached. 

On resuming the editorial control, and taking possession of the 



231 

Examiner^ he found that Mr. JcfForson Davis had placed himself at 
the head of the revolutionary movement of the South, and, what 
■was of greater significance, had been accepted as Chief of the new 
Government then just inaugurated at 3Iontgomery. Mr. Daniel 
from the first perceived the necessity of prompt and united action 
on the part of the South, as also of the imswerving and unialtering 
energj" re(juisite to carry the movement to a successful issue, whether 
by peaceable or forcible means. Accordingly he fell into line, and 
contended vigorously in his columns for secession in general, and 
for the secession of Virginia in ])articular. The latter event having 
placed the South apparently in a united, determined attitude towards 
her enemies, the Examiner quickly called upon the new Govern- 
ment to come to the front at Richmond — the real ca[)ital — estimat- 
ing the eifect of Mr. Davis's presence in Virginia to be an equiva- 
lent of fifty thousand troops, such was the prestige of his name at 
the time and the value placed on him, not only by his friends and 
admirers, but by the people generally. The new President came; 
but at a very early date afterwards, the Examiner announced its 
belief that mismanagement had accompanied him, and soon reached 
a decided conclusion, that the accepted Chief was not the right man 
to guide the Confederacy, The reasons, causes, motives lor this 
conclusion are herein recorded : it may only be remarked that they 
constitute the best possible commentary on the struggle itself, in 
that its very nature admitted and tolerated such a ruler and such 
criticisms to meet face to face. 

His course during the war is well known : his whole heart and 
soul were placed in the maintenance of Southern Ivights. He was 
one of those few Avho sought eagerly, definitely, and uncompromis- 
ingly for the sovereign independence of the South as a separate 
nation. And not alone with the pen did he strive to advance this 
purpose, but by service in the field as well, though entirely unfitted 
for such service through lack of health and strength. Ai)[)ointed a 
major in the stafl' service, he campaigned a short while with Gener- 
al Floyd, in "Western Virginia ; and subsequently, during the battles 
before Kichmond, he Avas wounded in the arm at the fight of 
Mechanics ville, while serving on the staff of General A. P. Hill. 
This wound requiring him to leave the field, he resumed the con- 
duct of his paper. Later, in 1864, he was again wounded in a duel 
which he fought with the Treasurer of the Confederate States. 

From early youth he had shunned society, preferring to enclose 
himself within a small circle of intimate friends with whom he could 
associate more agreeably to his tastes. Judged by this course he 
was called by some a misanthrope. Yet this preference was not 
prompted by any hatred of men, but was the simple result of appre- 
ciating men and things and time at their true value. Never extrava- 
gant in any thing, he always kept about him — according to the incli- 
nation of a prominent and very tenacious character — a goodly amount 
of strong, stern common sense which guided him as well in his actions 
as in his opinions and judgments, enabling him to look beyond the 
surface. He early established for himself the rule to follow evenly 



232 

the dictates of right ; and, while it need scarcely be added that he 
had his faults and committed faults, it may undoubtedly be asserted 
that he sincerely endeavored both to write and to act justly. His 
writings were influential only because they were dictated by a sincere 
and correct judgment, however plainly and harshly worded to the 
ears of authority, of the parasites of authoiity, and of the vastband 
of mutual admirers engaged in varnishing over the truth and each 
other. The brusqueness of manner and of speech which was natural 
with him was often taxed as being impoliteness ; whereas he enter- 
tained high regard for " civility ;" — ^just as a certain stiffness in per- 
sonal appearance was erroneously taken by some to be mere 
haughtiness. It is true, he was entirely opposed, through a fastidious 
temperament, to that pellmell system pecuhar to the very mixed 
society of America which fosters the living and leaning together of 
everybody, tlie ferreting and prying into others' affairs by the in- 
quisitive. Such a code of manners he regarded as being strictly 
apart from and unauthorized by the creed of the illustrious Demo- 
cratic party and the immortal Declaration of Independence, Born, 
so to speak, a critic, he was eminently fitted for the profession which 
he adopted. A^ times his artistic leanings would outcrop, but they 
were of a passing kind. Always particular about every thing that 
concerned him, he was especially so in regard to his paper, with 
which he would now and then artistically experiment, when one day 
the Examiner would appear with a " head " and then without. No 
one was ever more convinced than himself of the importance due to 
all those outward trifles that go to make up " style" in a newspajser, 
and in general, and which please or strike more or less according as 
they are observed or neglected. It was one of his chief endeavors 
to write simple, plain Anglo-Saxon, and his constant advice to others 
was : " write plain English : it is good enough to convey all that you 
should have to say." And, in eftect, his style was smooth, while 
strong and direct, sinning never against taste, only against grammar 
— but according to the permission and authorization of the laws of 
euphony. Good taste, sarcasm that partook of biting acrity, bril- 
liancy allied to strong sense, were his natural gifts. His public writ- 
ing, generally serious and augumentative, was unappropriate to the 
ornament of wit, of which his private correspondence gave always 
evidence, — a wit consisting in ingenious thoughts naturally and 
happily turned, not in that worst sort of false wit, puns, points, and 
intolerable affectations. 

Early in the beginning of 1865, Mr. Daniel, who had always 
been delicate of health, and who had been apprised of his tendency 
to consumption by physicians in Paris, — in whose declarations, how- 
ever, he refused to place faith, — was attacked first by pneumonia, of 
which he was relieved ; then by acute phthisis, which rapidly extin- 
guished life. He died on the 30th March, ] 865, only three days before 
the utter collapse of the Confederacy that he had predicted from his 
bed of illness, and the last number of the Examiner^ printed on the 
day preceding the evacuation of Richmond, contained the announce- 
ment of his death. The Examiner shared the fate of the Confed- 
eracy — it was destroyed in the conflag^ion of Richmond. 



3d in the connag^n 



^ o , ^ -* ,A 






.\ 









"O 















.# 






<7. 






a'?- 






'%<■ 



A^ 









^OO^ 



5-- 



^^ ■%. 















^^%, 






i'«- 









"oo^ 



' , S0^\0' 









o> .-"..-^c. 






/ 



.0^ 



s^-^. 



^ 0^ ... . 






a'^ 






^oo' 



:„ r^^^ ^ c:^ .V -^" ^ ^ A^' *^^^/.. 






.^^ 



' •& V, 










.■-^' 












-' 'f- 



.^ ■^>. 



f T "- 






^•' A^^ 



.V^' 






'1^ e^- 






.^■'^. 



V, 






.^" 






^" ''t 


















>' 


:, — ^ \*^'=^. 





^. -'>! , 



•^^. 



8 1 A \\ 






^. d-^'- 









.-^^''V 






> •>-, H; 










^f 


i> ^ ., . 'A 




^■ 




r.O- 


\ 



'. '^^A v^^ 



^x^^ ''->^^ 



,0 o^ 



oo 



x.,^' ^z- 

.V'^ o' 





















\0 o^ 













-.s^ -^ 












.^^ 



■0^ 






,0 o. 



'^c. 






'oo' 



cS <i. 









.\^ 



• 0' 



3 



•^. 



.aV^ 



Oo. 



oo' 









v\^ 



>• 



.-^- ^ 



. \ V, o « , ''-. ' S 



^^^ <.^^ 

X^^' ^/>. 






5" ,0-' -c 

.O"^ ,- ^ ' A ' 



..^•^ 



